THE
POe Kk NAL
cY THE
Bompay Natural HIsToRY SOCIETY.
“EDITED BY
HEX. WE. PHIPSON, C.M,.2Z.S.-,
Honorary Secretary.
WO: VH.
Consisting of Five Parts and containing
Twenty-sia Illustrations.
Dates of publication.
Part I. (Pages 1 to 124) we af ae ... lst June 1892
» I. .(Pages 125 to 262)... = co jus LSE Oct. 1892
» III. (Pages 263 to 412)... Gs aa ... 15th Jan. 1893
» IV. (Pages 413 to 561) ee ek Be ... 28rd April 1893
ao B- (indam, fe.) vis - tf = ... Ist August 1893
BRombap:
PRINTED AT THE
EDUCATION SOCIETY’S STEAM PRESS, BYCULLA.
5 Ove T
cue
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII.
PAGE
List oF OFFICE-BEARERS Sa ee eae i
List or MEMBERS has io oh ‘ Re
THE Butsuts oF Nortu Cacuar. Part I. arin two Pts) *
E. C. Stuart Baker . = aut 1
Our Ants, Part I. (with Plates A and By By Robert Charles
Wroughton, F.E.S., Deputy Conservator of Forests, Poona 13
THE Poisonous PLANTS OF BomBay. Part I. (With Plates A and
B.) By Surgeon-Major K, R. Kirtikar, I. M. 8. 61
HEREDITARY DIsEASE OF THE BRANCHES AND LEAVES OF Ficus
Tstzeta. (With a Plate.) By Dr. J, C. Lisboa... 76
HoRSE-BREEDING In InpIA. By Dee oactan G. ee
A.V.D., Assistant-Superintendent, Horse- Breeding Penick
for the N. -W. Provinces and Rajputana ... ne ! . 85
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES. By W. E. Hart ae ae 104
Review. Fauna orf British INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND BuRMA.
Mamaia. Part I... ae oh on = Sas 107
MISCELLANEOUS NoTES—
1.—Note on Angracum sesguipedale ~ 112
2.—Septicemia in a Deer ... “a cee ist oss cea ghlo
3.—A tubicolor annelide_... és ae Se 114
4,—‘ St. Brandan’s Isle” .,, AS mae 115
5.—Sport in the Island of Hathitivoe a : 115
6.—A Tiger attacking Elephants ... wav be ae 119
PROCEEDINGS oh Ae Ly us es és tee 120
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS OF THE BomMBAY NATURAL History Soctety,
FROM Ist JANUARY, 1891, To 3lst DEcEMBER, 1891 ... casa
Tae Burputs oF Nort Cacuar. Part II. (With a Plate.) By
E. C. Stuart Baker ... i ih ves ee ras BN <3
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MJyrrioPpopA SENT FROM
Cryton BY Mr, HE, E. GREEN, AND FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF
SouTHERN InpIA BY Mr. EpGar THursToN, OF THE GOVERN-
MENT CENTRAL MusEumM, Mapras. (With Plates I. and II.)
. 131
By R. I. Pocock, of the British (Nat. Hist.) Museum ...
ii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Our Ants. Part II. (With Plates C and D.) By Robert Charles
Wroughton, F, E. §., Deputy Conservator of Forests, Poona ... 175
Tae Porsonous Pirants or Bomsay. Part II. (With Plate C.)
By Surgeon-Major K, R. Kirtikay,1.M.S. ... ah ... 203
Tor ButterFuirs or ADEN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD, WITH SOME
NOTES ON THEIR HABITS, FOOD-PLANTS, &c. By Major J. W.
Yerbury, R. A., F. Z.S., F. ES. a sae aa ve Oe
Les Formicipes pe L’ Empire Des INDES ET DE CryYLAN. Part I.
(With a Plate.) By ee Forel, Professeur 4 l'Université de
Ziirich MAE a ae sue a AB ah Be)
Review. Fauna oF British INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND BURMA.
MamMatia. Part IT. abe ae ne ae wae w. 246
List oF Brrps’ Eigas oF NorrH CACHAR PRESENTED TO THE
Socrrry By E, C. Stuart BaKker, or NortH CacHar, APRIL,
12s ae Sh ay as ue ae ies we. 201
MiscELLANEOUS NoTES—
1.—A Frog swallowing a Snipe ... , 252
2.—Note on the Black-Tailed Rock- Chat (on Maneen ay meco-
cichla) melanura, Rupp) Yon He oe Beer 13)
3.—Tigers eating their young 500 avs ane ae ... 253
4.—Notes on the Thamin ... on .. 204
5,—Geographical Distribution of ke Pin- Aeaiea snipe se Joe 200
6.—A nest of King Cobra’s eggs (Naia bungarus) sae on ON
PROCEEDINGS wal abe ae ae ae nb6 Suc acy 2
THE BuLBuLs oF Norta Cacuar. Part III, (With a Plate.) By
E. C, Stuart Baker ... oa B53 Ae cee a s+. 208
Botany oF THE LAcCADIVES, BEING Natural History Norrs
From H. M. I. M. Survey Steamer “ /wyesrigaror,” CoM-
MANDER R. F. Hoskyn, R, N., CommanpiInG. Series II., No. 5.
By, Wiebram yx ae ibe Las eae te i. 208
REPORT UPON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS SENT TO THE
British MuszEuM By Mr. Ep@ar THURSTON, OF THE GOVERN-
MENT CENTRAL Musrum, Mapras. By R. I. Pocock, of the
British (Nat. Hist.) Museum Se 38 a0 ate ao eas)
THE Poisonous Puants oF BomBay. Part III. (With Plate D.) By
Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, I. M. 8. ae sed w. O12
CONTENTS. iil
PAGE
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TOAD FROM TRAVANCORE. (Bufo fergusonit.)
(With a Plate.) By G, A. Boulenger vhs as us wee OL/
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW HARTH-SNAKE FROM TRAVANCORE. (Rinophis
travancoricus,) (With a Plate.) By G. A. Boulenger ... ke
Notes ON A NEW SPECIES OF WREN FOUND IN Nortu CacHAr,
Assam. (With a Plate.) By E. C, Stuart Baker Se be GLO
ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES FROM THE InDO-
Maayan Reaion. (With Plates H, I, and J.) By Lionel de
Nicéville, F. EH. S., Cy M.-Z. 8.7 Geos. &: are ee ood
BomBay Grasses. Part V. By Dr. J. C. Lisboa, F. L. 8. a OOF
List oF Buirps’ Eags PRESENTED TO THE SocreTy By Mr. E. C.
Stuart Baker, oF NortH CacHar, Au@ust, 1892 ... .. 090
Review. Tue Fauna oF British INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND
Burma. Mammatia. Part III. ... ay vats Pepa. COL
MIscELLANEOUS NoTEs—
1.—Nest and Eggs of the Crested Black Kite (Baza lophotes) ... 403
2.—Curious tumour on a Black Buck ... cad vee we. 405
3.—Does a Tiger kill Snakes? ... gen SEB ae wee 405
4,—A Bear with three cubs... ae aoe Fe ae we. 406
5,——A rare Snake Puaanks longifrons) =e ce we» 406
6.--A Panther eating a Panther ... ue eas oh oe 407
PROCEEDINGS ane Sac hE oe site oes ta we. 408
Tue Buteuts oF NortH CacHar. PartIV. (With a Plate.) By
E. C, Stuart Baker ... ae ne = ays wae w. 413
Tue BUTTERFLIES OF THE CENTRAL Provinces. Part VI. By
J. A, Betham van vej hee Sas Ach ops wee 420
Les Formiciprs pp L’Empire pus INDES pT DE Ceyian. Part II.
Par Auguste Forel, Professeur 4 Université de Ziirich.,. .-. 430
Notes oN A Visit TO THE IsLaNDS OF RopRicuEZz, MAURITIUS,
AND Reunion. (With a Plate.) By Rear-Admiral W. R.
Kennedy... eae 6 : owe .. 440
Notes on THE Frora AND Fauna oF THE Kacnin Hits. By
CaptainG. H. H. Couchman or Pc ose wee 447
Ur a Hi. By W. F. Sinclair, I. 0. 8. ... ae one wee 402
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE
BoTANY OF THE LACCADIVES, BEING NATURAL History NorTzs
From H. M. I. M. Survey Steamer ‘“ /wvesrrearor,” Com-
MANDER R. F. Hoskyn, R.N., Commanpine. Series IL.,
No. 5, Continued. By D. Prain ... ek sree ae ... 460
THE Potsonous Puants OF BomBay. Part IV. (With Plates EK and
F.) By Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, I. M.8.,F.L.8. ... 487
Notrs on Wiup. Does, &c. By Prof. H. Littledale, B.A., Baroda
College wie ae ee nen ee ie ee .. 494
InpIAN Frowers, By Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, I. M. &.,
PRESERVATION OF BirDS AND HaRMLESS WILD ANIMALS IN
MancotmpeTa (ManaBLesHwar). By C, G. Dodgson, Acting
Under-Secretary to Government ... bs aes has ve» O90
CORRESPONDENCE :—
The Mammalia of India __... oe as sis sei sae OOO
REVIEW :—
1, Records of Sport in Southern India ... oa wis vee O87
2, Fur-bearing Animals in Nature andin Commerce ... ... 540
3. Horn Measurements... sae oa 520 aes .. O41
MiscELLANEOUS NotTEs:—
1. Food of the Flying Fox so one iG we. O44
2. Birds observed breeding in icine se i wo. 044
3, Note on Psilotum triquetrum ... ne she: ate .. O44
4, Note on Indian Breeds of Dogs one a: onc ws. 045
5, AGazelle’s Food ... ne Ss sxe be 13 a
6. A Lynx attacking a Man cre se se w. 048
7. On the occurrence of the Spotted Grey Tree: -Creeper at
Ahmednagar, Deccan baa Hee Le Ws ... 048
8. Moonlight Shadows .., eae oe: 508 dee wv» 049
9. Measurements of Black-Buck Horns ... vee aia ves O00)
“10. A Bold Panther... ‘ie ee its a pot ne)
11. Measurement of Sambur Horns wee ude aie Rees a!
12... Weeks ace 4 asec SS ee ee a ate ie erate ogee
13, The Giant Betel-nut Tree ane oe a a . 058
14. Wolf-hunting ... race RSL Ah See UR Ra a on)
15. New Sumatran Huttetifies Bee a np as eee OOO
PROCEEDINGS ... bes at she 606 nok ia ... 008
ACCOUNTS FOR 1892 is ee Bu ee! ue nt eae
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
YOLUME WII.
PAGE
Anonymous; Review. Fauna of British
India, including Ceylon and Burma,
Mammalia ... .» 107, 246, 391, 535
; St. Brandan’s Isle” ... 115
Baker, E.C. Stuart; The Bulbuls
of North Cachar. (With five
Plates.) 1, 125, 263, 418
—— ; list of Birds’ Eggs of
North Cachar... = .. 2ol, 390
; Notes on a New Species
of Wren found in North Cachar,
Assam. (With one Plate.) vw. 319
Barnes, H. E., ¥.Z.8.; Note on the
Black-Tatled Rock-Chat, Ceromela
(Myrmecocichla) melanura, Riipp, 252
; On the occurrence of
the Spotted Grey Tree-Creeper at
Ahmednagar, Deccan .. 548
B., HE. F.; Review. Records of Save
in Bouthert India
—_——=
.. 6387
3 Fur-bearing Sisco’ 540
3; Horn Measurements. 541
Betuam, J. A.; The Butterflies of the
Central Provinces. Part VI. . 425
BuanrorpD, W. T.; The Mammalia of
India dis Se Bi . 533
Buoop, B. W.; Measurements of
Black-Buck Horns ... . 350
Boutrncer, G. A.; Deveciption of a
new Toad from Travancore. (With
one Plate.) ... a aC . 317
3 Description of a new
Earth-Snake from Travancore. (With
one Plate.) ... a0 nee .. 318
Bunker, H.; Curious tumour ona
Black-Buck ... F ‘i wee 405
3 Birds ob served breed-
ing in Khar qaee = xe .. 044
Consett, G. Q.; A Tig ger seman g
Elephants ,., wae are sag lal)
ee
one
PAGE
CoucuMan, Captain G. H. H.; Notes
on the Flora and Fauna of the
Kachin Hills ... as ean ve, 447
Cox, Lieut., P.L.; A bold Panther. 550
Dateapo, D, G., M.D.; Note on
Psilotum triquetrum ve O44
Doneson, 0. G., Acting Under-Secre-
tary to Government; Preservation
of Birds and harmless Wild Animals
im Malcolmpeth (Mahableshwar) ... 530
DRaxke-BrockmaN, Surgeon-Captain
H, E., F.R.C.S., F.Z.S., I. M.S. ;
A Lyn attacking a Man ... . 048
DreckMANN, F.; A Rave Snake, Psam-
mophis longifrons ... vee 406
Foret, AvuGustE, Professeur a
Université de Ziirich; Les For-
micides de l’ Empire des Indes et de
Ceylan. Part I. (With one Plate.)...
3; Les Formicides de
VEmpire des Indes et de Ceylan.
Part II. + oa « 430
Hart, W.E.; ; Protective Rascoibiaeens 104
HANXWELL, t. A.; Nestand Eggs of the
Crested Black Kite, Baza lophotes, 403
Hupsoy, C.,C.8.; A Frog swaltlow-
ing a Snipe ... a as wee 202
3 The Giant Betel-nut
Tree .. eve oe .. 593
ee J. Des Bobs a Tiger kill
Snakes ? 3 »» 405
-———-3 A Bap with three
219
Cubs . 56 ». 406
JESSE ; Sport in the Talon af Kara:
tivoe . Ste sa . 115
Kaneany, Rear-Admiral W. R.
Notes on a visit to the islands ?
Rodriguez, Mauritius and Réunion,
(With one Plate.) ... , 440
KeswaL; A tubicolar annelide roe tA
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
PAGE
Kirtixar, Surgeon-Major K. R., I.M.
S., F.L.8.; The Poisonous Plapes
of Pantone (With six Plates.) 61,
£03, 312, 487
; Indian Flowers 1. vee OLB
Lester, Lieut. C. D.; Ducks ve DDO
Lisso, Dr. J. C., F.L.S. ; Hereditary
Disease of the branches and leaves
of Ficus tsiela. (With one Plate.) 76
;Bombay Grasses. Part V ... 357
LittteDALE, Prof. H., 3.A., Baroda
College ; Notes on Wild Dogs, Sc. 494
MackeNziE, Colonel KENNETH ; Mea-
surement of Sambur Horns . 551
Nicrvitie, LioNen pe, F.E.S., C.M.
Z.8., &. ; On new and little-known
Butterflies from the Indo-Malayan
Region. (With three Plates.) ... 322
; New Sumatran Butterflies. 555
Nunn, J. A.; Septicwmia in a Deer... 118
Oxivier, Major H. D. ; Geographical
Distribution of the Pin-Tailed Snipe 256
; A Panther eat-
ing a Panther ae :
Pocock, R. 1.; Report wpon cae col-
lections of Myriopoda sent from
Ceylon by Mr. E. HE. Green, and
from various parts of Southern
India by Mr. Edgar Thurston, of
the Government Central Museum,
Madras. (With two Plates.) tol:
-——— ; Report upon a small
collection of Scorpions sent to the
British Museum by Mr. Hdgar
Thurston, of the Government Central
Musewm, Madras one AS
PAGE
Prain, D.; Botany of the Laccadives,
being Natural History Notes from
H.M.I.M. Survey Steamer “ In-
vestigator,’ Commander R. F.
Hoskyn, R.N., Commanding. Series
ED INOS B+ hoe Aa .. 268, 460
RAYMENT, Veterinary-Captain G.,
A. V. D.; Horse-Breeding in
India wee aa Tete
RICHARDSON, Capen W. St. JOHN;
Notes on the Thamin aa ee 204
Scott, Colonel W.; Tigers eating
their Young «.. 300 50h we 208
Sincbtarr, W. F., 10.8. Up «a
Hilt... vee aoe a6 vee 402
3 Food of the Fly=
ing Fou nee sac 500 vee O44
3 Note on Indian
Breeds of Dogs aa a vee O45
; Moonlight Sha-
COWS ovo Bi se aan coe O49
Turner, M.C.; Note on Agracum
sesquipedale 5 Poi A
Vatu, Lieut. Szymour D., R. I, iti.
A Gazelle’s Food ... wee DAT
Wappineton, C. W.; Wolf. hunt-
SG) aco i ten OOF
WASsEY, Guanes K.; A Nest of King
Cobra’s Eggs ... ss < vee 207
Wrovueaton, RoBERT @rannee, E.E.S.;
Our Ants. - (With four Plates.) 13,
Yersury, Major J. W., RB. A., F.ZS8.,
¥.H.S.; The Butterflies of Aden
and Neighbourhood, with some notes
on their habits, food-plants, Sc. 207
175
LIST OF PLATES.
YOLUME VII.
To face page
Blyth’s Bulbul (Xanthiwvus flavescens)... ae Le aes ae ve eee
The White-Throated Bulbul (Criniger flaveolus) ... so ise ee SAND
Onur Ants, Plate A ve ve os see sia Oo man ee ven ao
ce he os pam RARE ea I e/g et ee,
Strobilanthes callosus, Nees, Plate A.., see ae i ie nicl as (64
Trichosanthes palmata, Roxburgh, Plate B .., me as ee ee ceded l
Hereditary disease of the Branches and Leaves of Ficus tsiela .., oat soe YE
The Black-Crested Yellow Bulbul (Otocompsa flavivestris) ree Sie we 125
Ceylonese and Indian Myriopoda, Plate I ... nee Sse se as a Lok
2 Pe Fe > Ped ae oes Pes ce te op ae
Our Ants, Plate C as As vse es ie he at wei ETS
oreign » -D ise 356 nad vas 53° se ae se Cre AD
Kempferia rotunda, Linneens, Plate C ree “& ae wee ae ie 203
Ants, Plate A .., rat i “oe te are 450 en ck Seon caus,
The Bengal Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Otocompsa emeria) ... “9 se we 263
Pythonium wallichianwm, Linneeus, Plate D Spc Pr 6c nee we. 313
A new Toad (Bufo fergusonii)... Pe or oi ae va ae See AW
A new Earth-Snake (Rhinophis travancoricus) .., ae “ix re .. 318
The Plain Brown Wren (Elachura immaculata*) ,., sc oe e eo EL:
Indo-Malayan Butterflies, Plate H ... sie ka ak ar os we. 322
; » » ay DEE eae \ .. 322
” ” ” a, CMa es ven oe 322
The Finch-Billed Bulbul (Spizigus canifrons)
The Striated Green Bulbul (Alcurus striatus) ck ue es
The Bengal Red-Vented Bulbul (Molpastes bengalensis) ... a ae
The Burmese Red-Vented Bulbul (Molpastes burmanicus) “ck tae
Head of Rodriguez Stag Be = sei ses a aes ine ..» 440
Trichosanthes cucwmerina, Linnzeus, Plate E es rae ats oc etsy,
Gloriosa swperba, Linnzeus, Plate F ae ace tee 5c ae con Ghee)
* Named Elachura haplonota in the text.
Gat lee
322. .
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Bombay:
“BYCULLA.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Sa EEE At
Tur Butputs or Norra Cacuar. By H.C, Stuart Baker. Part I.
(With 2" Plates) \. es... NAL ccicMt Reis LO tatws sc nis eaten eee ecagae es creme 1
Our Ants. By Robert Charles Wroughton, F.u.s., Deputy Conser-
vator of Forests, Poona, Part I. (With Plates A and PL.) ......... 13
Tur Poisonous Puants oF Bompay. By Surgeon-Major K. R.
Kirtikar, I. M..8. (With Plates Aand B.) ....... peaacneehoneceses Seaetolk
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF THE BRANCHES AND LEAVES oF Jficus
Tsiela. By Dr. J. C, Uisboa (With Plate) .....7-..-.. sueeseencweae 76
Horsr-BREEDING IN InpIA. By Veterinary-Captain G. Rayment,
A.V.D., Assistant-Superintendent, Horse-Breeding Department
for they NL-W,. erovinces;andtRaypoutaid, 2. .cs sess auecce sess eecnene 85
PRorEective RESEMBLANCES, By W. i, Hart .........cc.coseccreterces HOS
REVIEW .o..cs sens Ch giiee Lace en Wee ais baie sce ew uses alse cleats ere ngeieee ackeaee 107
MiscELLANEOUS NOoTES—
1.—Note on Angracum sesquipedale ....00.s.oee.0ee AS ReL Mean eins rea 112
2 Septiceemiia ta a Meer i sche esse ees seek estate seated Bs ess 113
3.—A Tubicolar Annelide ..............-20+20+ etmeece. avr .ccoeseranerens 1l4
ASE ibrasel ans lise Vease eee je ee ai Paidak nate oc tbh ted sounaoae cn. Wee 115
5.—Sport in the Island of Karativoe............ Pee eRe tes 55 115
6.—A Tiger attacking Elephants ................0.-0- qo, caveats Pas loenelate!
' PROCEEDINGS - ....... Mics catccesnenees seine abe dee esitalasec ee deeswcsetgenuee 120
STATEMENT OF) UAC COUNTS ira soreness coeaens daoacmonseneatinan tena noteenet woscee lee
List oF MEMBERS ...... Sea ablanieiaina’s in eeouoenns Se ee Ry ars i—xvi
Bombay Hatural History Soviety.
LIST OF OFFICE~BEARERS.
President.
H. E. the Right Honorable Lorp’ Harris.
Vice- Presidents.
Dr. D. MacDonald, u.p., B.8.¢., ¢.M.
The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, m.a., LL.M. (Cantab),
Dr. G. A. Maconachie, u.p.,c.m.
Hon. Secretary.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, ¢.u.z.8.
_ How. Treasurer.
Mr. Andrew Murray.
Editor.
Mr. H..M. Phipson, ¢..z.s.
Managing Comnitter.
The Hon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood. Mr. W. F. Sinclair, c.s.
Dr. G. A. Maconachie. Mrs. W. E. Hart.
Dr. D. MacDonald. Major W. 8. Bisset, RiE.
Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s. Lieut. H. E, Barnes.
Rev. F. Dreckmann, s.J. Mr. J. C. Anderson.
Dr. T. S. Weir. Mr. E. L. Barton.
Dr. Kirtikar. Mr. Reginald Gilbert.
Mr. J. D. Inverarity. Mr. R. M. Branson.
Mr. W.S. Millard. Mr. G. Carstensen.
Mr, Andrew Murray, ew-offcio.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, ew-officio.
1st Section.—(Mammals and Birds.)
President—Mr. J. D. Inverarity.
Secretary—Lieut. H. EK. Barnes.
2nd Section.—( Reptiles and Fishes.)
President—Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s.
Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.m.z.s,
3rd Section.—( Insects.)
President—Mr. L. de Nicéville, F.u.s., C.M.Z.s.
Secretary—Mr. H. H. Aitken.
4th Section.—(Other Invertebrata.)
President—Dr. G. A. Maconachie, m.p., c.M.
Secretary—Mr. J. C. Anderson.
5th Section.—( Botany.)
President—The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, m.a., Lu.m. (Cantab.)
Secretary—Surgeon-Major K, R. Kirtikar, r.s.u. (France), M.R.¢.s.
A
Bombay Aatural Pistorn
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Abdoolhabhai Rahimbhoy
Abercrombie, A. oie
Aberigh-Mackay, Major.
Acworth, H. A. (C.S.)
Adams, J. B. D. 50 350
Aga Khan, H.H. ... soe
9 e
o
e
c
Aga Shaikh Mahomed ae: Be
Aitken, E. H.. iets 36% mee
Alcock, J. B. (c.s.) . cs sas
Alexander, Major F. ie 256 eae
Allum, E.F. <.. soc Sct 000
Almon, W. . as ooo val
Ameerudin Tyabji he bog ee
Andersson, Captaile Invi.) (re 260
Anderson, J. C. be. Bie
Anderson, Capt. W. mR aN Bee
Anthony, H. B. “6 556 see
Appleton, A. F. (A. V.D.)
Armstrong, Dr. Jas. ...
Arnott, Dre Ie
Ashburner, Khan Bahadur Rustomjee ee
Ashby, Capt. J.S. --. see
Babaji Gopal... Rak toe
Baddeley, Lien _Calengll ae was
Bailward, Major A. C. (R. a 360
Bainbridge, Dig Gia o8e 5be
Baines, J. A. (C.S.) ...
Bajana, H. H. Prince Jorav arkhanji
Baker, E. C.S. ee
Balfe, Major E. side wae
Banks, Dr. ... san
Bapty, James R. ..
Barclay, Major E.A..
Barker, Drei. 1Ca5 ee
Barnes, Lieut. H. E. (F.Z.S i;
Baroda, H. H. the Gaekwar of
Barrow, H. W. alot os0
Society.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bundelkhand.
Bombay.
Godhra.
Bombay.
Goolburgab.
Karwar.
Dhulia.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Raipur, C. P.
Europe.
Cawnpore.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Berbera.
Bombay.
Cawnpore.
Bombay.
Europe.
Simla.
Bajana.
* Gunjong.
Simla.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Rajkot.
Poona.
Baroda,
Bombay.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Barton, E. L.... a oe see vee
Baumbach, R. Pai ss $8
Bayley, The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sag
Bayley ViBaPs |... es
Beardmore, E. B. ... ane
Beaufort, A. F. eae ane ee ere
Becher, Major E. F... wee vs ves
Bell, NES Dis. ie See ae
Bengallee, Sie: (Git 'E. ) Beet sae oe
Benjamin, Isaac ave we oe ove
Bennett, D...... ae tan vee
Benson, | fe, Bid €; E) eae ine aie
Bergendahl, J. C. ae gs ome
Betham, G. K. ae Se wad deg
Betham, J. A.... wate is Seer fae
Betham, R. M. oes Ace ees ee
Betham, W. G.
Bevan, J. B..F. ut ce a aoe
Beynon, Erasmus ... was ted
Bhatavadekar, Dr. B. K.
- Bhownuggur, Ei Takhtsing}i Gest. ue
Bicknell, see res
Biddulph, G.-E M.
= EE ci Ga
Bingham, Major &. H.
Birdwood, the Hon’ble Mr. a M..
Biscoe, Capt. (1.M.) ta ae
Bishop, Capt. E. ot M.) bag a
Bisset, Lt.-Col. W.. S. (R.E.)
Blackwell, Ce ae cd, | wade tees HAtD
Blackwell, H. F. ? He
Bland, F. 7A), ... ae,
Blathwayt, Mrs. G, ee wenn hs i
Blood, B. W.. oe Siu phats des
oniace: Peat, or ate Se RP
mons Ae Re..v.
Bowie, Col. M. per Lee aS ae
Boyd, Dr. H.W. 4 ss a oe vee
Branson, R. M. a Gee ta wa
Brendon, C. R. vag tae “ae wee
Bristed, ohn. BAY:
Brockman, Dr. E. H. ‘Drake (. Z S.)
Bromley, Herbert ... eee “Ec
Brooke, Miss Ada ... ere ote Bre
Brown, Dr«Ea de® sa exe ea ie
Brown, J. Moray
Brown, J. W.. ies a ie
Browne, Captain Cat ae ee eee
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Bombay,
London.
Alibag.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Porebunder..
Bombay.
Alibag.
Jabalpur,
Europe.
Nasik.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bhownuggur,
Bombay.
Bareilly.
Quetta.
Moulmein.
Bombay.
Lurope.
Aden.
Bombay.
Burma.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Ajmir.
Raichur,
Burma.
Raipur.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Malvan.
Bombay.
Mian Mir.
Bombay.
Barsi.
Puri, Orissa.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
iv LIST OF MEMBERS.
Brunton, -R. P. ae be wen ales
Buckland lle VW eee Ay. aa Wor
Buckle, Major Hen cas (see wi ee
Bulkley, E. A. See Mpi tome AEM (nme oe
Bulkley, Pee ae see wee
iBurder, Hayes: sworahl aewe
Burn- Murdoch, “Major J. (R. E. 4 on :
Bushby, W. H. see 3a son so
Butcher, L. H. es Bee woe cet
Butler, oe J. B. Ro co a ae
Byrne, C..H. sac 30 sca!
Bythell, ae W. Ue (RE) 235 509 :
Cama, Dr. Maneckji nee
Cameron, W. L. (C.E.)
Campbell, Lord Colin eee 504 see
Campbell, E.W. ... oe aoe oe
Campbell, HH. @.' ... =e “a6 wee
Campbell, John bas nae ae ine
Campbell, J. M.(C.S.) . aes sete sae
Camulsey Premji... oats 50 Ste
Candy, R. E. (C.S.) ... 35: BR a oot
Cane; Reve AnGs. -.. see s0c wwe:
Cappel cE a(CG:S.)) 22. sot be woe:
Carew, Capt. G. ae 2 See 350
Carrington, E. Col. ... so oa4 ae
Carroll} Ba (G.E ec 546 $56 sae
Carstensen, G.
Cates, Capt. G. Hyde. Padi ©
Pais. Dra VERE iit 550 siete ened
Chalk, F. aes 440 bZig mae
Chalmers, Fae: eee eco eee on
Channer, Dr. O. H.... ce me ae
Charles, POU (es.) o.. ace SES ane
Chatfield, -K. M. bee =ac ae Bele
Chico, JiRs/(€se) ... ie ree 593
Childe, reako,* |... so 545 353
Chrystal, J. S. she as ge a
@lark, Captian 2. ee ck See
Clerke, W. J. B. (C.E.) <on nine es
Cleveland, C.R. (C.S.) « ... ate so0
Cleveland, Dr. H. F.... sie stds see
Clifton, C. N. (C.E. ve one wor siete
Close, E. IP eee ee eee eee ceo -
Clutterbuck MPs Ege sae ca siehe cae
Clowes, Major tea Dele <3 oe sien
Collie, Dr. R.... Ea lane ice oe
Collister, J.G.H. ... cee sols bier
Bombay.
Bombay.
Karachi.
Ratnagiri.
Kharaghora.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Akola.
Jacobabad.
Bombay.
Lurope.
iRebes.
Hyderabad, Sind.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Satara.
Europe.
Alibag.
Mhow.
Poona.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Baroda.
Bombay.
Bombay-
Bombay.
Belgaum.
Belgaum.
Poona.
Baroda.
Bombay.
Hubli.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Saugor, C.P,
Aden.
Europe.
Kharagora.
Chunda, C.P.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Conder, H. ... one tas
Conroy, A. ... wer oes
Coode, J. M. ... stess ae
Cooke, Dr. T.... a
Cooper, Arthur Lai
Cooper, CPs
Cornforth, J. P. : ey
Cotton, G ok ie ae
Cowasji Dady Limi . aC
Cox, A. F. (M.C.S.) . see
Crawford, Leslie efi
Crawley-Boevey, ye Se ors he
Creagh, Capt. B. P. (f.M.) .
Groits, Boreal | aes be del
Cuffe, T. W..:-.. <a “es
Cumberley, N. RR. ... ead
Curjel, i: eee coe
‘Curreembhoy Ebrahim.. :
Cursetjee,.C. M. ee see
€utch, H. H.the Raook ...
Dadina, Dr. Ratanji Rustamji
Dady, Homejee C. Dadysett
Dalby, C. Js: inne ean see
Dalgado, Dr. D. G. ae
Davidson, Ja(GS.) 2.5. +s:
Davies, eg A. W. a.
Davies, Harry S. (C. E. ) Ses
Deane, H. H.{C.E.) . eens
Dempster, F. E. eee see
Denso, Max ...
Dhanjishaw, Mea eicoba. (B. ais
Dharampur, H. H. Prince Raldeoj.
Dhargalker Luxmon, Doctor..
Ditmas, AL Rin tases}. Aaaeieh
Dobbs, saree et shane ~
Dodgson, C. G. (C.S.).... so
Doig, S. B. (c. E. ) x
Dormer, Lord . een
Douglas, | Mrs... wee
Dreckmann, Rev. F. (S1) tala
Dubash, Sorabjee Du. ae
Duigan, S.A. seo
Dumayne, F. e — fas
Dunlop, H. H.G. — ... ten
Dunn, G. O. W. aa bua
Dunsterville, J. H. C.... Sea
Duthie, it F. eee eee eos
soe
Bombay.
Bombay.
Nagpur, C, P.
Poona.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Dharwar.
Madras.
Gwalior.
Bombay.
Europe.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bhuj, Cutch.
Kalyan.
Bombay.
Sambulpur.
Sawantwady.
Bijapur.
Berars.
Ghadechi.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Thana.
Dharampur.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Kamptee, C. P.
Khandeish.
Poona.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Poona.
Malegaon,
Thana.
Simla. .
vi LIST OF MEMBERS.
Dyanoclk: ra VWViit sey oy een os ses
Pbden,.(.0)(GS:))) a 34° ens see
Bdeeclow,, Baye. 500 Scere i aA £00
Edulji Dinshaw s5c ue eetiecar cis
Elliott, A. “a5 soe “ac ae
ior (Chee See
Elsworthy Waele yes ane aac
Eunson, HoJ.(€8.)... See ee
Byatt. ©. Bata.
Ewart, E, M. ... ne ue hee si
Fairbank, Rev. S. B.. | = sis :
Faircloush, ae ie Pi Ree
Farquharson ES G (R. EL) aan ba
Fenton, Major L.L. ... ore soc
Rerouson, Die wa ah ae. Nels cove
Ferguson, H. 5. ves soe 500 se
Fernandez, E. E. EA peep | Dasaeaa a eee
Fernandez, T. R. Sisis 55 see ae
Field, Frank, ... Nee BES ue geet one
Fletcher, F. E... gate ees See Gas
Fletcher, Fe Wik: ... Cee, Seema AKG AS
Fletcher, W. M. ois sos ane
Fleming, W. N. ay ae eek
Flower, F. M.. 5a0 pee see
Panbes, (Calalg B. Kee
Forel, Professor Aug. (Hon. Cor. Member)
Forrest, Hon’ble Mr. L. R. W.
Bowles, KD es aay a eats
Box, (CB iia =e
Framji Pees Patell soy oe a
Kraneist) CaptunlaG.. vee. EY scan os
BranikkessAn water eae 55a 500 560
Braser, oO. Mom(C:S.)yees ae aa 309
Pirasts, © We sS.) hue an aoe Soe
Fry, T..D. da Ace Sher hadark ener
Buller a) tb e(:Se) pc. BA ade Res
Fulton, E. (C.S.) son
Furdoonji Jamsetji_ ... ose bee =35
Gaddum, F. ... Be ang
Gama, Dr. A. da ae SPY SiC
Gamble; Syicesa(MsA-sahiolS.) ag) oceeangad eee
Gaye, W. site dio sock SOB) eee kane eas
Gell HG.) 8 Roc one wae Sas
Georse, Cale ane Age Sry Ss
George, D. cuisines lave atu mene ee
... Bombay
Thana.
Bombay.
Karachi.
Yeotmal,
Quetta,
Bombay.
Vizianagram.
Dongargarh, C.P.
Ambassamudrum.
Ahmednagar.
Bombay.
Bombay
Rajkot.
Poona.
Travancore.
Baroda.
Sumate
Behar.
Tellicherry.
Madras.
Poona.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Switzerland.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Dharwar.
Ahmedabad.
ihanar
Nagpur, C.P.
Rangoon,
Bombay.
Europe.
Bombay.
Dehra Dun.
Secunderabad.
Bombay.
Secunderabad.
Bijapur. .
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Gibbs, H. M. ... ee
Gibbs, R. th: see vos
Gilbert, Reg. .
Giles, E. ue rah
Gimlette, Dr- e H. e
Glazebrook, N. S. ,
Gleadow, F, de me ee
Goldsmid, F. an
Gompertz, Rev I EF. Wh
Gompertz, R.. :
Gonne, H.
Gonsalves, Dr. ie Bi
Goodenough, Lieut. H. ae
Goodfellow, Gol Gui:
Gostling, Di be ie
eee dbmndass K. Muckunji
Graham, W. D. nee
Grant, Dra Di St. J. A
Gray, "Cecil, 24: ae ve
Gray, Chas. ... PPP
Gray, Dr. Wellington.
Greme, Col. R. ‘e see a? ,
Greany, DrJ.P.
Greaves, W. .. iat sea
Green, Dr. J. S.. tee aus
Greenwood, E.... «oe
Grieves, Rev. A. C.
Griffiths, Jor s:. side
Gunthorpe, Lieut.-Col. E. a
Gwyn, Captain A. (I.M.)
BeMoRemebdGd .ca,. sen.
Ballens |< BABA(A.V.Dib. cos
Hamilton, Capt. A. R. Cole...
Hamilton, W. R. tee osehs
Hare, R. D.
Hargrave, H. ares oe
Harris) He HelLord ~ ... “ee
Hart, G. iio R:
et al et ie
Paveys. WA(CS:), °s.. ae
Haslam, A. J. (A.Vv.D.)
Hateh;: Hi. Betis ve see
Batch; Dey Wale... eee
Hawkins, CRs
Heeckerenez, Le Baron von (Hon. 3
Hemming,-HoJoR. -......
Henderson, Dre:H.. ... ove
eee a
_ © es
e e e * e
vi
Nasik. ;
Jhansi.
Bombay.
Ahmedabad.
Sutna.
Bombay.
Thana.
Poona.
Kampti.
Yercaud.
Karachi.
Bandora.
Erin pura.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Dharamsala.
Bombay.
Coonoor, Nilgiris.
Bombay.
Europe.:
Belgaum.
Bombay.
Kampti.
Bombay.
Europe.
Bombay.
Amraoti.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Simla.
Secunderabad,
Bombay.
Yeotmal.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Europe.
Bombay.
Secunderabad,
Poona.
Bombay.
Parel.
Java.
Bombay. .
Ahmednagar.
viii LIST OF MEMBERS.
Pleryey,/ is We (esso) jae: 4a) leone
Hexton, W.S. ... ace hiss ies
Pibbert,.Capts ean aay. 5
Hibbert, Col. J. vies abi -
POG SNe yn lees Set eee So
eli eae Ne aneece bios gy ye tals ee
Elole Ace Demanae aes ae
Holland, W. J... sete ee oe
Horbury, G. F. 506 ee
Hore, Lieut.-Col. W. S. ses 508
Hornidge, Sii(GsE) een er nod
Hudson, COW IMG (CSaiaois.: cence
Huglies, Col: C.F. ... oe ioe
Hughes, W. C. vee Bice! ARS
Phomter, ilies ave ace ae Mieke sen
Hussey, ColG@. a0... ond; cee
Hutchinson, F. RR. ... ue
- Indore, H. H. the anaes Holkar...
Inverarity, J. D. Soc ee
Jacksons Golick. Vie yc. We! Nene es
James, H. E. M. (c.s.) fon ee
Jamsetjee, C. Jamsetjee rae Aan
Jardine, Mrs. J. :
Jardine, James Weis
Jeejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetjee, Bart,
Jeejeebhoy, Pherozshaw M.. S50
Jenkins, J. L. (B.A., C.S, re SeARey ae tete
Jenkins, R. A.. pets Hee
Jeyker, Dr. A. S Gs. 4100
John, Harry ... Bas 300
Johnson, J. R. Kirby .. Vitec soo
Johnston, Andrew Be bists
Jones, Capt. G.Sutton 308 a0
Jones, H..H. ... wee wae see
Kabraji, Kaikhushro N. 506 re
Kamal hei ae Hee en
Kane, Cable: nee 503
Kantak, Dr. Shania eu are |
Kay, Dr Ways SSE Eo today ¢
Kennedy, Major. W. Bo ete
Ker, L. B. cis Sac Bee
Kerkhoven, ew f (Hon. Member) ...
Keys, H. W. sia ee
Kharegat, M. P. P. (C5) 533 305
King, Alfred . 363 coe nee
aco
Bijapur.
Karachi Dist.
Mount Abu.
Poona.
Hubli.
Bombay.
Sylhet, Assam.
Khandeish.
Bombay.
Nusseerabad.
Sholapur.
Karwar.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Lurope.
Deolali.
Bombay.
Indore.
Bombay.
Baroda.
Abmedabad.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Bombay.
Muscat.
Bombay.
Europes
Coorg.
Deoli.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Cambay.
Bombay.
Java.
Godhra.
Broach.
Bombay.
Kirtikar, Dr. K. R.
Kittredge, G. A.
Knight, D. ...
Knyvitt, Ross
Lancester, Dr. A. ...
Lang, F. (C.E.)
Lang, Walter
Langley, Dr.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Latham, The Hon’ble Mr. F. L..
Lathi, H. H. the Thakore Saheb of
LaTouche, Brig.-Genl. C.D. «2. vas
LaTouche, C. B.
Lawder, Dr. E. J.
Lawley, Capt. the ifs Rigas
Leask, J.
Lee- Warner, ' W. (c. S.)
Lely, F..S. P. (G.S.}
Leslie, A.
Lester, Lice:
Lester, C. F. G.
»Lewis, Rev. A. ‘Goldwyer . uF
Leveillé, Mon. H.
Light, Lieut. R. H.
Lindesay, Capt. E....
Lingard, Dr. Alfred
Lisboa, Dr. J.-C.
Litchfield, E.
Battie, EF. A.
Little, FT, D: '(e. E).
Littiedale, H.
Loam, Mathew
Loch, Capt. G. H.
Loch, Major W. Ww.
Logan, R. (B.C:S.) ...
Lovell, E. C. F.
Liard, E.,S.
Lynch, CoB.
Lynn, G.R. (Ca)
Lyon, Dr. I. B.
Macaulay, Capt. K.
Macaulay, L. A.
Macaulay, R. H.
MacCartie, Dr. F. i
Macdonald, Miss (M.D.) , oe
Macdonald, Dr, D.
Macdonald, J.
B
Thana.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Amritsar.
Nagpur, C, P.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Lathi,
Colombo, Ceylon.
Punch Mahals.
Hyderabad.
Madras.
Bombay.
Poona.
Surat.
Bombay.
Bhuj, Cutch.
Ahmedabad.
Europe.
Europe.
Europe.
Kamptee.
Poona.
Bombay.
Dehra Dun.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Baroda.
Vizagapatam.
Cachar.
Jodhpur.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Baroda.
Europe.
Bombay.
Baroda.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay. -
z LIST OF MEM BERS.
Macdonald, W. M. is
Mackenzie, J. Muir (c.s. )
Mackenzie, Col. Kenneth..
Mackenzie, M. D.
Mackenzie, T. D. (C. Snee
Mackinnon, P, W.
Macleod, Norman C.
Macnaghten, Chester
Maconachie, Dr.G. A. ...
Macpherson, Major T. R..M.
Mahomed, Doctor Esmail daar LM. S; oe
Mair, A.
Maistry, Desahae B.
Major, Col. F. W..
Mallins, Dr. C. wee
Maneckshaw, Dr. Dhunjishaw
Mangles, Lieut. W.S.
Manser, Dr. R.
Mant, Re N.
inn es. Chas. (F.Z. S. )
Martin, Major G.
MasonsiGeorme.t nn
Masson, David P. ...
McCalman, Dr. Hugh
MeGann, sere. vs:
McClelland, W. 8. (M.1.C. E. 5
McCorkell, G (C.S.) ee
Wekens. INES ae
McLaren, Mrs. G...
McMullen, G. C.
Meade, Capt. M. J.
Mehta, P. R. a Be
Melvin, W. F.
Menezes, Anthony I P. soe
Mercer, F. .
Meredith, Richard..
Merewether, Col. G. (R. E.)
Merriman, Col. W. (R.E., C.1. Bo
Messent, PaG: aes
Meyer, Dr. €. H..L.
Middleton, T. H....
Middleton, W.H....
Millard, W. S.
Miller, E. ...
Miller, N.
Millett, GAP. :
Mills, Vet. Capt. Jas.
Minter, Capt. J. S.
Europe:
Belgaum.
Amraoti.
Kurachi.
Bombay.
Masuri.
Bombay.
Rajkot.
Bombay.
Poona.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Hingoli.
Bombay.
Ahmednagar.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Gwalior.
Bombay.
London.
Lahore.
Dharwar.
Bombay.
Jamnuggur.
Ahmedabad.
Bombay.
Europe.
Karachi.
Bhopal.
Khandeish.
Montrose, N.B.
Bombay.
Burma.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Baroda.
Poona.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Giridhi.
Thana.
Bombay.
Karachi.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Mirza Abbas Ali Baig (C.S.) fas aaa
Modi, Bomanji Edulji eds sas
Modi, Jivanji ey
Monie, H. ... fag nee
Monk, Capt. R. P.
Monks, Dr. sa
Monod, E. C.
Monro, A.V. us
Monté, Rev. Dr. B. ide
Monté, Dr. D. A. de
Moos, Dr. Framroz Ardasir
Morris, A.. W. (F.Z.S. . aa
Morris; D.'-... Sas ee
Morrison, A. ae es
Moscardi, E. H. (c.s.) sae re
Moulvi, Syed Alli aeerera vas
Murray, A. Me ee
Murray, W.... piss ‘an éas
Meyer, O. Soe doe iS
Nairne, Rev. A. K. sti Cor. hall
Nazar, M. H. ae
Newborn, C.
Mewmicn, Dr. I. H. si
Newnham, Capt. A. (F.Z.S.)
Nicéville, L. de (Hon. Cor. Member.
Nicholls, G. I. (B.C.S.) Ps
Nicholson, C. me
Nicholson, | aa SA
Nutt, Col. H. L.
Oates, E. W. (Hox. Cor. Meméer.)
O’Brien, the Honorable W. T. ...
O’Callaghan, I. ...
O’Connell, J. see Sue ae a
Oliver, E. G. ae) “ee aug ee
Oliver, G, : te Beis Poa:
Olivier, Major H. D. ee we ae
Oilmvane, Ba Ci Ky (C.S.) <0 ise waa
Ommaney, Bie halCS.) << wee sae
Opiumwalla, Dor’b. E....
Ormiston, Geo. E. (C.S.) ..
O’Shea, F. Bernard awe
Osman, C. W. wae ee
Owen, W. S. aie
Saag Professor R. Ge Pes
Ozanne, E, C, (C.S.) = Gee
x
Thana.
Broach.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Aden.
Bombay.
Multan.
Bombay.
Bandora.
Thana.
Yercaud.
Bombay.
Europe.
Sholapur.
HyderabadDeccan.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Ajmir.
Satara.
Calcutta.
Benares.
Bhosawal.
Bombay.
Sawantwady.
Tonghoo, Burma.
Bombay.
Europe.
Europe.
Khandeish.
Calcutta.
Ahmedabad.
Rajkote.
Godra.
Bombay.
Europe.
Europe.
Poona.
Europe.
Bombay.
Poona.
xii LIST OF MEMBERS.
Parker, J. C. es aA
Palliser, H. G. biets
Parmenides, A. C.
Parmenides, J.
Parsons, The Hon’ble Mr. Justice:
Parry, Capt. L. H. (R.A.) .
Parulkh, Ruttonji Jamsetji_ F,
Pawslla, Jamsetji Cursetji se
Pateol, N. M. vad :
Pearson, Mrs. H. ...
Pearson, T. W.
Pechey-Phipson, Mrs. E. (s. D.)
Penny, Mrs. L.
Pentland, Capt. R. Chee ae ae
Penton, fone Be nts, ual ae oe
Pestonji Jewanji_ ... 554 204
Peters, Dr. C. T.
Peterson, Dr. P. ae
Petit, ae Dinshaw ...
eee
Petit, FD. oe ee 206 :
Petit, P. C. sec “
Peyton, Major-General Ww. be ae
Phipson, H. M. (c. we ire were
Pilcher, Geo. E....
Pinhey, Lieut. A. F.
Plinston, G. C.
Porebunder, H, H. pence Kumar Stirs Bhao
Singji 300
Porter, Capt. G. M. (RE)
iP eames Col, A. B.
Pottinger, Major-Genl. Boal,
Prall, Diss EY 4... 36
Pratt, E. M. 30
Preston, F. J. NE BAL
Prickett, WaiGiiyin.: ae NS
Proctor, H. E. Be: he Aa fie
Pyrke, Capt. R. D. :
pe a W.H. tae aes ;
Quin, H. O. (C.S.)... ae : cA
Radcliffe, Major G. B. E. ... eas a
Raghunath Muckund ee y
Rahimtoola Khairaz bat
Raikes, E. B,
Raja Murli Manohur, Bahadoor ...
Rand, W.-C. Wea
Rawlins, Col, A. M. (R, AO AN Ee
Calcutta.
Dharwar.
Europe.
Tuticorin.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Hingoli.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Kharaghora.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Karachi.
Jacobabad.
Nulgunda,
Bijapur.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Dharwar.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Neemuch.
Bombay.
Rajkot.
Bombay.
Europe.
Poona.
Deesa.
Bandora.
Bhosawal.
Sambulpur,
Bombay.
Bombay.
Kaira.
Ahmedabd.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Hyderabad, Deccan.
Bijapur.
Poona.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Rayment, Vety. Surgn. Bi G. ke
Readymoney, N. iwee
Rean, T. Rogers
Reddie, F. ...
Reid, G. B. (c. s.) ..
Bcnnick, Col; Ee de P.
Reynolds, Be (G.E.).<s
Richardson, F. G.
Richardson, ae W. St. Jobn
Rimington, F.C. ... dh Bee
Rippon, Lieut. G,
Ritchie, A. M, 2
Rivett-Carnac, L. ...
Robb, Dr.
Roberts, R. ..
Robertson, B, (C.S. ) ae
Robertson, Col. D.. “es
Robinson, Mrs. ie
Robinson, G. P.
Rogers, Chas. G.
Rogers, Thos. ae
Rose, F. ae abe
Russell, B. B.
Russell, L. P.
Rustomje, H. J.
Rutlam, H. H. the Maharaja on
Ryrie, J. M. x
Sada, Monsieur A...
Sage, Major C. A. R. (S. c. )
Samut Singji, H. H. Prince
Sansom, T. E a
Sassoon, Mrs.
Savile, P. B; etd
Scarborough, Earl of aes
Scott, The: Hon’ble Mr. Justice
Scott, M. H. (c.s.) «. son
Scott, Col.Wm. ... eas
Scully, Dr. J.
Selby, Major H. O. ‘(R. E.)... , aes
Servai, Cursetji N. sae nee vr
Sewell, R. A. D. ...
Sharp, Professor W. H. ...
Shipp, W. (C.E.)_ ... tee
Shopland, Capt. E. R.
Shrimant Hanmantrao Gopalrao “Nimbalkar
Shuttleworth, A. E. : dae ie
Silcock, H. F, (C.S.) she an =
XIlL
Babugurh.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Ahmedabad.
Yeotmal.
Europe.
Travancore.
Madras.
Bombay.
Burma.
. Hyderabad, Sind.
Bombay.
Europe.
Secunderabad.
Nagpur, C. P.
Sutna.
Europe.
Bombay.
Dehra, N. W. P.
Bombay.
Jabalpur.
Europe.
Bombay.
Karachi.
Rutlam.
Bombay.
Pondicherry.
Dharamsala.
Bombay.
Japan.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Cairo.
Dhulia,
Palanpur.
Calcutta.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Jabalpur.
Bombay.
Kolhapur.
Cachar.
Ahmednuggur.
xiv LIST OF MEMBERS.
Simkins, A. R. M.... Hi ae Ba
Simpson, A. F. : sn 5
Sims, Ernest
Sims, Proctor Ae
Sinclair, W. F. (C.S.)
Sladen, J. (€.S.) ..
Slater, D. McLauchlan
Slater, E. M. Sais
Sly, F. G. (B.C.S.) ..
Smith, Mrs. Yorke...
Smyth, R. Bateman (c. 3 ).
Soane, G. de
Spalding, C. S.
Spence, L. H.
Spencer, F. A.
Squire, W. W. (C. E. .)
Squires, Mrs. iRa AX
Starling, M.H. .. ee
St. Clair, Capt. W. (R.E.) «+:
Stewart, R. B. ice)
Stiven, J. ee
Stone, 8. J.. oats nae
Straw, R. Ae be
Street, Dr. A. W. F.
Street, Capt. H. A. Re) =
Stuart, M. Scott ...
Sukhia, Dr. Sadie [Ely 1D.
Sukhtankar, Sitaram V. Bt
Summers, Thos. .« cine ay wee
Surveyor, N. F.
Sutherland, W.
Swan, H. H. Be hs a
Swinhoe, Colonel cr as ban Sele
Syers, Capt. H. C. oe fe
Sykes, C. ...
Symington, J. H..
Symons, H 500
Symons, J. L.
Symons, N
Talyarkhan, paneer este, J
Tata, Dorab, J.
Taylor, A. ...
Taylor, Chas. ee cos oe
Taylor, James H. ... ae ate
Taylor, W. C. A if
Temulji, Dr. B. N. 5a ee a
Terrell, Rev. Chas. D. ... ii as
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bhownugegur.
Bhownuggur.
Thana.
Viramgaum.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Raipur, C.P.
Bombay.
Madras.
Bombay.
Bhownugeur.
Kaira. a
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Bombay.
Europe.
Ahmednugegur.
Bombay.
Europe.
Europe.
Europe.
Madras.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Malay Peninsula.
Cutch Mandvi.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Khorda. f
Khorda.
Bombay.
Sehore.
Terry, G. W. at
Thacker, W.
Thatcher, 'Capt.; [. PE.
Thomas, Col. R, M.
Thompson, B. W. O.
Thomason, R. M.
Thompson, P. :
Thompson, R. H. ‘EB.
Thompson, Mrs.
hod, E., Hs:
Tomlinson, 8. (M. 1-C. bay
Traill, Tohn
Teavll, WH.
Tudball, Chas. (C,z.)
Tudball, W. (B.C.S.)
Tufnell, Capt: #1:.R.
Turner, Mrs. A. F.
Turner, M. C.
Uloth, H. W.
Vaidya, Dewan Bhahadoor Luxumonrao Jag-
gonath
Vandravandas Purushotumdas
Vidal, G. W. (c.
Vinayekrao Ri: Te eon
Wadia, The Hon’ble Mr. N.N..
Walker, A. C.
ielnes Byai.
Wallace, James .
Wallace, John (C.E.)
Wallace, L. A.
Wailer, Lieut. F. eiL.
Walton, Rienzi (C.E. ‘)
Wapshare, H.
Ward, Lieut. C. H.
Wasey, Geo. RK.
Watson, E. Y.
Webb, W.
Weir, Dr. T. S.
Welch, Dr. John L. (M.A. M. Bw
Wells- Coles: Lieut="H. <:.
Welter, F ....
Wenden, H. (C.E. i...
Westall, J.
Westropp, Lieut. ji .G.
Westmacott, Col. R.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
xv
Bombay.
Bombay.
Deolali.
Chanda, C, P.
Thana.
Sheogarh.
Rewari.
Nagpur.
Bombay.
Hubli.
Bombay.
Vizagapatam.
Jhansi.
Rutlam.
Bareilly.
Neemuch,
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Hurope.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Cawnpore.
Bombay.
Sehore.
Bombay.
Nilgiris.
Fyzabad.
Goa.
Europe.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Malay Peninsula,
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Rajkot.
.eePoona,
XVI LIST OF MEMBERS.
Westtopp, Lieut. 8. H.
White, G. Gilbert ...
White, TiC ..
White, W. H. (C.E.)
Whitehouse, Lieut. B. (
Whitworth, G. C. (C.S.)
Whyte, Lieut. T. C.
Wild, A. E.
Williams, Lieut. E. iG
Willis, R. A. ;
Wilmott, J. Eardly..
Wilson, W. G. ee
Wimbridge, E.
Wise, H. 5S.
Wodehouse, Lieut. F, W..
Wolff, W. H. (C.E.)
Wolf-Murray, O. (M.C.S. ye
R.N.)
Wood, W. G. ne va
Woodrow, W. R.
Wright, Fred.
Wright, H. C.
MeN R. C.
Wylie, R
Yeld, Dr. H.
Yeo, Edwin W. i Se
Yerbury, Major E. Y.
Young, A. P. 5
Young, Gas:
Young, W.
Younghusband, A.D. (c. s.)
Yule, Major Me S08 ose
Bombay.
Nagpur, C. P.
dihana
Ghadechi.
Europe.
Nasik.
Europe:
Lahore.
Rawal Pindi.
Bombay.
Naini Tal.
Bombay.
Bombay.
Europe.
Kirkee.
Ahmedabad.
Cuddapah.
Naini Tal.
Sirsi.
Ellichpur.
Bombay.
Poona.
Gadechi.
Calcutta.
Bombay.
Europe.
Poona.
Europe.
Bombay.
Nandod.
Burma.
-
Sint Sa Nt) gi Be en ee ab ate w na? >
Journ. Bombay Nat.Hist.Soc.
Annee
pa pea
)
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vation
E.C.S. Baker del.
BLYTH’S
( Xanthixus
INI@ RE ala
Mintern Bros. Chromo lth. London.
SS or Oe
‘escens.)
SHAR.
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it
Tourn. Bombay Nat.H
Mintern Bros. Chromo lith. London.
BLYTH'S BULBUL.
flavescens.)
nthixus
27 H CACHAR
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OF THE
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No. 1] BOMBAY, 1892. [Vol. VII.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR.
By E. C: Sruarr Baker.
Paar ~
{ With 2 Plates. }
(Read before the Bembay Natural History Society on Sth April, 1892.)
ZLANTHIXUS FLAVESCENS.
Buytu’s BuLBUL.
Oates’ ‘“ Avifauna of B. India,” No. 287., Vol. I., p: 275. id., B.B.B.,
Vol. I., p. 193. Murray’s “ Avifauna,” Vol. IL., p. 389. Hume, Cat.
No, 452 bis.
Descriptrey.—Forebead and crown dark brown, the feathers edged
elive-yellow and sub-edged grey. Upper plumage olive-brown, tinged
flavescent on the rump. Wings olive-brown, edges of quill-fea-
thers clive-green. Tail clive-brown, shafts rather darker brown.
Lores black, shert supereelium from base ef upper mandible yellow-
ish white; cheeks and ear-coverts greenish-grey; chin pale grey >
throat, breast, and flanks grey, more or less suffused with yellow;
centre of abdomen flavescent ; under tail-coverts bright yellow. Bill
and legs black ; irides dark brown.
2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Length 8°2 in.; tail 4in.; wing 3-3in.; billat front -4 im., and from
gape °65 in.; tarsus ‘8 in.
The feathers of the tail are rather strongly graduated, the centre
pair exceeding the outermost by rather more than three-quarters of
an inch.
Nipirication.—The nest is very much like that of the common bul-
bul (P. pygeus); but on an average I think it is proportionately
shallower. The first 1 ever saw was composed outwardly entirely of
very dark-coloured materials, the only light thing about it bemg one
small yellow leaf woven into the base amongst the other materials ;
these consisted of black fern roots, dark brown twigs, and tendrils
of climbing plants. The lining was composed of the ends of some
grass denuded of the seeds, which in colour wasa bright tan. Another
nest, obtained later on, was composed largely of dead leaves and twigs
interwoven with, and bound together by, roots, further strengthened
‘here and there with a few cobwebs. The lining was of the same
flowering grass ends as in the other. I do not know the name of the
particular kind of grass from which it is taken, but when a quantity
is put together it has exactly the appearance of “ khus-khus.”
Of five other nests which I have taken, three were much like
the one first mentioned, and two others were of an intermediate
type between that and the otherone. All seven nests are rather dark,
even such leaves as are used in their construction are generally of a
dark brown or dead green shade, rather than of the commoner colours,
yellows and reds. In shape, as already mentioned, they are shallow
cups, very neatly and firmly made. The majority of those I have
taken were placed in between several upright twigs, taese being only
partly brought into the sides of the nest by the circumscribing mate-
rials. The average of five of the nests was rather less than four
inches in diameter ; in depth none exceed 1°5 in., varying between that
and 1:2in. The internal measurements are about 3°2 in., by ‘8 in.
depth. All the nests were taken from low bushes close to the ground.
The highest was found at about five feet, the majority between two
and three and-a-half feet. The birds take great pains to conceal them
well, andit often requires careful searching before they can be found.
The parent bird, moreover, generally leaves the nest very silently,
and at once quits the neighbourhood. On one occasion only —and
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 3
then there were young—did the birds at all assist me in finding
their nest by hovering about in its vicinity. Of the seven nests two
contained three eggs each and one contained enly two. Of the
others one nest had but a single egg in it and the remaining two were
empty. My nine eggs average in size ‘96 in. by ‘O8in. They vary
in length between ‘93 in. and 1:00 in,, and in breadth between
‘06 in. and °60 in.
The ground-colour isa faint, very delicate cream, and they are freck-
led with specks and tiny irregular blotches of brownish-pink and
with others again, subordinate to these, of pinky-grey, appearing as
if below the shell. The markings form a very distinct ring in the
greater number at the larger end, and here too there is a dull purplish
tint caused by very indistinct, cloudy markings of pale neutral tint.
In about half the eggs, also confined to the larger end, there are a
few exceedingly fine, short, hair-like marks, the colour of clotted blood
or of dark brown.
Of all bulbuls’ eggs these are, I think, the most elongated, but at
the same time they are obtuse rather than pointed. The shell is
very fragile and soft in texture, the surface is smooth but quite
glossless.
During the cold weather I have seen this rare bulbul as low
down as 1,500 feet, but after April they appear all to ascend above
three thousand feet, and many go to the highest peaks, nearly 7,000 feet
high. They keep to much the same sort of ground as Ofocompsa
flaviventris, and like them assemble in flocks from September to
April. The flocks appear to differ much in their proportions; I have
seen over thirty collected together, and again I have observed flocks
consisting of only half a dozen individuals. They are rather silent
birds, when not quarreling (a vice they are rather given to), and they
do not seem to have any song worthy of the name ; and most of their
other notes resemble the conversational notes of O. pygeus and
burmannicus very closely, though they are distinguishable by any
one who has studied the different bulbuls’ voices.
They are shy birds and impatient of close observation. They are
quite impartial as to their feeding grounds, visiting high trees and
low bushes alike.
They breed, as far as I know, in June and July, but a wide
4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
knowledge of their habits will probably show that they also breed in
May.
They do not break up their flocks until very late in April, so that
it is unlikely that they will be found building in that month,
They eat both fruits and insects, but principally the latter,
-Orintcsr FrAvEoLus.
THe Wuitt-THroatep BuLBut,
Jerdon B. of In, Vol. I1., p. 88. Oates’ Fauna of India, Vol. I., p.
255. id. Hume’s Nests and Eggs, Vol. I., p. 162. Murray’s Avifauna,
Vol. IL., p. 84. Hume, Cat. No. 451.
Derscription.—Forehead, lores and cheeks and a supercilium greyish-
white ; ear-coverts grey, varying very much in depth; chinand throat
white ; remainder of head light olive-brown, the feathers all more or less
edged with yellowish-green; whole upper plumage and lesser wing-
coverts olive-green, remainder of wings brown, the quills edged with
olive yellow on the outer webs; lower plumage bright, light Aing’s
yellow ; tail rufescent-brown.
Bill pale greyish-blue, gape and mouth still paler; irides deep
red ; legs greyish-horny, pale bluish-horny or fleshy-grey.
Length 87 in.; tail 33 in.; wing 3-7 in.; tarsus “75 in.; bill at
front ‘68 in. and from gape ‘9 in.
Oates makes no mention of any white supercilium, but [I find some
trace of this in all the birds obtained in these Hills. In the majo-
rity it is well developed and very strongly defined, but in others it is
much less distinct though always perfectly apparent. The grey of
the ear-coverts, as above mentioned, varies very much; in a few
specimens it is no darker than the lores and cheeks, whilst in some
it is sufficiently dark to make a decided contrast with those parts..
Nipirication.—The nests, of which I have taken some thirty, are
all much of the same type, and are made as follows :—The outside of
the nest is composed of dead leaves and bamboo spates rather
strongly fastened toyether with a few hair-like fern roots and a
number of elastic stems of weeds; inside the outer shell, which can
be stripped off without damaging the remainder of the nest, there
are a few more dead leaves very strongly bound together by innu-
‘00g 4ysTpT yey ABquiog “UuImoP
Reh alone) jElIeslOuN|
CSnposaR]z sasrursy )
aviet=qiak= (atenhfe\sQc Mh ees Ny elise
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7
Me
“EVHOVO HLYON
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TASAING G3ALVOYUHL-3LIHM AHL
ueEPUuOT “YL CWO.n4D “Soag ussquIy
IPP 4eyeg'S Dg
“POG 4ST Fey equiog bb Salo} e)
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 5
merable fern roots, all of the finest description, and, also, all black,
so firm is this part of the nest that if the outer part and the lining
be taken away, a strong and perfect cup remains capable of with-
standing considerable force. The true lining is composed entirely of
coarse fern roots, very rarely of fine twigs. These three portions of
the nest as a rule shew three distinct shades of colour, the outermost
part, in the material of which dead leaves predominate, is of a
yellow or light reddish, the fine fern roots cause the central part
to appear of a dead, dull black, whilst the innermost is nearly always
of a dark reddish-brown. In shape the nest is a rather shallow cup,
averaging, in internal diameter about 2°6,” and in depth a little over
an inch. The outer dimensions of course depend much on the
amount of materials used and the compactness with which they are
fastened together. The greater number of nests will be found to
somewhat exceed 4'5” by 2°5," and very few will be taken smaller
than this. Oates states that they build in small trees at heights
never above 10 feet from the ground; amongst the large number of
nests that I have personally taken, I have never seen one above
four feet from the ground, and many are placed within a few inches
of it, or amongst roots and herbage, and practically, if not actually, on
it. From its position the nest is more often than not very wet and
heavy, but so well is it made that the lining keeps beautifully dry and
warm. ‘The eggs are very beautiful. In character they shew but
little variation, though much in the evtentof their markings: the
ground-colour varies from a pale to a warm deep pink, always rather
bright in tint ; the primary markings consist of irregular lines, specks,
spots and small blotches of different shades of blood and maroon-red,
the majority dark, some light, and a very few quite pale; the
secondary markings, which are usually very few in number and often
absent altogether, consist of specks and freckles of grey and purple-
greys; 1 donot remember ever having seen any lines of this
colour. The markings usually tend to form a ring at the larger end,
the spots and lines here running into one another and being rather
blurred, elsewhere the spots are very few; in a few eggs they form an
ill-defined cap, and in a very few they are fairly equally distributed
over the whole surface of the egg. I have two or three clutches in
which the character of the markings is very smudgy, and they are
6 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
also more numerous—much as in the eggs of Pyctorhis—and a couple
of other clutches in which the markings consist almost entirely of
lines. In nine out of ten eggs many of the spots will be found to be
in the shape of tiny horse shoes.
The eggs are very glossy, the shell is compact and smooth, and
decidedly stronger than the majority of bulbuls’ eggs.
In shape they are typically rather long, obtuse ovals, though fre-
quently rather drawn out towards the smallerend. Abnormal speci-
mens are rare, and, such as there are, are generally of a broader, more
obtuse shape.
In length my eggs range between 8:9” and 1:1,” and in breadth
between ‘68’ and °74". Theaverage length of 35 eggs is 99" *-72”.
In number they are generally two, very rarely three; never, that I
know of, four.
I have only taken the eggs of this bulbul in May and June, the
earliest date I have recorded amongst my notes being the 4th of May
last year, 1891, and the latest the 24th of June, 1888. I have, however,
found young, unfledged, in August, and I also once found a nest con-
taining young ones on the 2nd of May. They do not often seem to
breed in these Hills below 3,000 feet, and I have found most of my
nests above 5,000 feet.
This bird, like the greater number of species of this sub-family, is
gregarious throughout the cold weather, but is never found in very
large flocks ; as a rule they number some eight or nine individuals,
often only four or five and never more than twelve or fourteen; they
keep very much to the smaller trees and bushes, the cause of this.
doubtless being the fact that they are more exclusively fruit eaters:
than most bulbuls, and find their food more plentiful and easily obtained
in such situations, for, they will ascend very lofty trees, whem
these are in. bearing, to feed on the berries. .
It is wonderful what enormous things these birds eontrive to
swallow whole: I took from the stomach of a bird, a short time ago,
two large berries of a babool-like tree, Phyllanthus emlica, which com-
pletely filled it, extending the walls to their utmost limit; these
berries are of a sort very common in these hills, acid to the taste,
and in colour pale green; they form a favourite article of diet with
monkeys, deer, squirrels, etc., and many kinds of birds.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR, 7
I have never heard this bird uttering any song, indeed most of its
cries are very harsh and loud, though it has one rather sweet loud
note which it frequently uses, unfortunately nearly always in con-
junction with many others far less pleasant.
Its flight, for a bulbul’s, is strong and very direct, but it seems
seldom to make use of its wings for any distance at atime. It is
found principally on the outskirts of heavy and in the interior of light
forest, generally selecting ground with a considerable amount of
undergowth.
I have never seen it below 2,500 feet except in the cold weather; it
appears to be most common between three and four thousand feet at that
season, ascending higher during the breeding time, when it may be
obtained on the very highest peaks.
FLEMIXUS FLAVALA.
Brown-EaRED Busur,
Jerdon B. of In, No. 448, Vol [., p. 80. Oates’ B. B. B. No. 272,
Vol. I, p. 175; id. Avifauna of B. I; Vol L, p. 263. Murray’s
Avifauna of B. I., Vol IT., p. 20.
Duscriprion.—Head grey, the feathers centred darker ; remainder
of upper plumage, lesser and median wingscoverts dark grey; in
some birds the upper tail-coverts are tinged with olive-yellow but in
most they are quite plain grey ; greater wing-coverts dark grey with
nearly the whole of the outer webs olive-yellow; primaries brown,
all but the first three narrowly edged with olive-yellow, secondaries
the same but with the yellow margins broader, whilst in the inner
secondaries the greater portion of the outer webs are of this colour.
The tail is of a rather lighter brown than the wing, the feathers
being margined with yellow in the same way as the wing quills.
Lores and cheeks velvety-black ; ear-coverts goldeu-hair-brown ; chin
and upper throat white; breast and flanks grey, of a paler shade
than the back and fading to white on the abdomen; under tail-
coverts white.
Some birds have the under parts tinged with flavescent during the
cold weather, it is always, though, extremely faint.
The female, though not much shorter, is a much more slender bird,
and the crest, also, never appears to be so well developed.
8 JGURNAL; BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
Bill black, irides dull crimson or reddish-brown; the legs vary
ruch between horny-brewn and dark plumbeous; in a few specimens
being almost black.
Male, length 8-4" ; tail 3:4"; wing 3:9"; tarsus 72" bill at front
6" and from gape °98”.
Female, length 8-1"; tail 3:2"; wing 3-8",
Niprrication.—The nest is a rather deep cup tomposed outwardly
of grass stems and dead leaves, and lined with coarse grass stems.
The general appearance of the nest isa bright tah-brown and if
looks as if made of “ kus-kus” or some similar material. Occasion-
ally the whole nest is constructed entirely of grass stems, but at other
times a good many bamboo leaves are used as well as coarse grasses
and a few fine twigs; and, in one nest, I also found a few fern roots
and a scrap or two of moss. It is a very compact, strongly built
nest; externally they average about 3:5° by 2:5," and inwardly the
diameter is about 3” or rathe# less, and the depth from 1°6” to °2”. The
nest is almost invariably placed close to the ground, generally at about
three or four feet from it; and never, tomy knowledge, above five feet:
Most of my nests were taken from wild lemon trees growing at a
place over 6,000 feet high, but I have found one nest below 2,306
feet, and have seen many birds at about that elevation during the
breeding season. All the nests were taken from scrub jungle with
one exception, and that one was found almost on the ground by a
hill path passing through forest. This last nest was very beauti-
fully hidden in an overhanging bunch of creepers being half sup-
ported by them and half by a bunch of coarse grass. J should never
have found it but for the assistance of the parent birds, who kept
hovering about and swearing loudly whenever I approached too close.
- My eggs are all of one type; the ground-colour a lovely pale pink,
covered with numerous spots and freckles of pinky-red which are
slightly more numerous at the larger end,
I have one or two eggs of O. flaviventris which resemble them in
all but size, and a clutch of eggs of Spizivos canifrons which are quite
undistinguishable from them.
The average size of twelve eggs is °93" X 71”,
The greatest and:least. length i is ‘96 and °88”, and the prentee
and least breadth -78” and -69’”.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 9
There is the full complement of eggs, rarely only two, never I
think, four. In shape they are rather long regular ovals, in texture
typical bulbul’s. This bird is fairly common throughout the district,
descending during the cold weather far into the plains and ascending
to the highest peaks during the hot weather and rains. In the for-
mer season, during which time it assembles in flocks, it frequents
fairly open country, roadsides, and the edges of patches of cultivated
land. It keeps exclusively neither to high trees nor to low bushes,
visiting either the one or the other as the chances of obtaining food
present themselves. The flocks are very large and I have counted
over thirty in one; as in addition to this, their numerical strength;
they are exceedingly noisy, it is by no means easy to overlook them.
I was once at a place on the banks of a big stream where there were
several large trees, then in bearing, to which these birds came to
feed every morning and evening. From daylight until about 9 a. m.
they were industriously feeding and keeping up a continuous loud
chuckling and chattering, giving every now and then aclear whistle.
After 9 o’clock the whole flock flew away, retiring to some deep,
shady forest close by, from which they returned to feed at about half-
past three or four p. m.
They shewed themselves to be very amiable characters, refusing to
fight with any of the other species of birds engaged in feeding on the
same trees, and at once gave up their perch to any other bulbul or
barbet who chose to take it.
I noticed that they were the earliest of all the birds to retire;
they went away some time before sunset and began to settle them-
selves in a clump of bamboos where they are accustomed to roost.
The flocks must break up very early as I have never seen any
after the first few days of March, though I constantly meet with
single birds much later on in the year.
About the middle or end of April they ascend to higher elevations
where they remain during the breeding season. At this time much
less is seen of the birds, as they withdraw to deeper forest, keeping
in a great measure to nullahs and ravines, more especially to those
through which water runs.
They have a pleasant but rather jerky song which they sing all the
year through, as well as in the breeding season. I have heard it
2
10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
repeatedly in December, January and February during which latter
month the birds are still collected together.
These birds have a very peculiar habit of seating themselves at the
extreme end of a thin overhanging bamboo and swinging with the
breeze. The smallsolitary bamboo, Bambusa vulgaris, when still young,
is exactly like an extremely pliant fishing rod, and the end of one of
these forms a very favourite perch with this bulbul. I have often
seen apair of them thus seated, close together and evidently enjoying
the motion of swaying backwards and forward sin the wind. They
are not exactly shy birds, but they will not allow nearly as close an
approach as Jole does, unless they are in trees with very thick foliage
when they trust to escape being seen. If any one approaches such a
tree in which a flock of these birds are feeding, and of course also
chattering, a dead silence ensues directly they see him, and until the
undesired presence is withdrawn, no more conversation is carried on,
During the breeding season they become more wild, and it is then
often rather difficult even to get within shot of them.
Spizixus CANIFRONS.
THe. Finca BitteD BuLBut.
Oates’ Fauna of India, Birds, Vol. I., p. 280, id, Hume’s Nests
and Eggs, Vol I., p. 184. Hume, Cat. No. 463 bis. . Murray's
Avitauna of B. I., Vol II., p. 48.
. Duscrrprion,—Forehead, running up in a point into the crown,
grey ; lores mixed grey and black, crown and round the eye black ;
chin and cheeks, mixed grey and black ; ear-coveris grey tinged with
hair-brown on the upper part, nape and sides of neck grey, chin dark
brownish-grey. Whole upper plumage bright olive-green, lightest
on the rump and upper tail-coverts, and darkest on the scapularies
and interscapularies; wing-coverts the same tinged with brown on
the inner webs of the greater coverts; primaries and secondaries
dark brown on the inner and yellowish-green on the outer webs,
inner secondaries green on both, but more or less tinged with brown
on the inner webs. Tail yellowish-green, with a band, an inch wide,
of dark brown at the tips. Lower plumage dull greenish-yellow,
brightening to yellow on the belly and under tail-coverts. Bill very
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. ll
pale straw-white, legs and feet dull deep flesh-colour, iris red-brown
to pure vandyke-brown. _
Length 8-4"; wing 3°7”, tail 3-9” ; bill at front 5-4” and from gape
7-5"; tarsus 7°5".
The woodeut representing the head of this bird in the Blandford
series Avifauna, makes the crest too bushy and the feathers not long
enough or sufficiently pointed. The crest is more like that depicted
in the woodcut of Hypsipetes psaraides. The hairs springing from
the nape are rather numerous in this species, the nostrils are
almost concealed.
_ Nivirication.—The nests that I have taken of this bird differ from
those of any other bulbul. The material of which they are made
consists almost entirely of coarse and strong tendrils with perhaps
a few fine elastic twigs added here and there. There is seldom any
lining beyond a few scraps of withered bracken ; but I have noticed
that the tendrils used for the inner portion of the nest. are generally
finer than those used for the outer portion ; another peculiarity is that
the inner tendrils are usually of a reddish colour, whilst those of the
outside are of different shades of brown, pale enough to contrast with
the former. The nests are fairly strong, but by no means tidy, the
tendrils hanging in festoons all about them. A nest, now before
me and taken on the 5th May this year, measures internally about
2:7" in diameter by 1” in depth. It is an exact miniature of nests
of the genus Lanthocincla, especially rufogularis. All the nests I
have taken have been placed in scraggy bushes and sapplings at
heights varying from five to ten feet from the ground; they are
generally fixed in between several upright twigs, sometimes in a
stoutish fork.
I have never taken a nest below 4,000 feet, and the majority have:
been found at over 5,400 ; they breed in considerable numbers on the
Hungrum peak. .
The earliest date on which I have taken eggs was on the 30th
April this year (1891) ; my latest dates recorded are the 16th June
1890, and- 16th June, 1888. The eggs vary very greatly in colour,
but the type most often found is as follows:—Ground-colour pale
pink freckled all over with primary spots of dull reddish and under-
lying ones of pale dusky and purplish : these markings generally tend
12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
more or less to coalesce at the larger end, forming a blurred cap or
ring of deep dull purplish, with here and there a short fine line of
black or reddish-black. In some eggs the markings are rather
larger, being more blotches than freckles, but they are nearly always
both numerous and dark. In 1887 I took one clutch, and in 1888 ~
another, and in 1891 again one, in which the freckles were very
pale and the eggs resembled those of Xeanthixos flavescens very
closely. The typical shape is a rather long regular oval. Twenty
eggs average exactly 1" by ‘7". They vary in length between 1:12”
and ‘9%, and in breadth between -66” and -73”.
There appears to be scarcely anything on record concerning this
bird, and personally I have very seldom observed it except during
the breeding season. It is by no means common even where found, -
and is very local in its distribution. As far as I have been able to
ascertain, it is confined to the Hills above 4,000 feet, and generally
above five, the one exception to this is a place called Laishang, a
valley at an altitude of some three thousand feet and surrounded by
high rocky peakson which afew of these birds may always be found and
from which they sometimes wander a short way down the valley.
The few birds that I have noticed during the cold weather were in
small flocks and engaged in feeding rather high up in biggish
trees. In the breeding season the flocksbreak up and the birds become
extremely wild and shy, continually skulking about low down in
thick scrub and similar jungle. Their notes are loud, full and rather
sweet, of very bulbul-like character, but at the same time easily
distinguished from the cries of the other members of this family.
It appears to be found no lower down in the cold weather than in
the rains. The stomachs of those birds which I have examined were
full of insects, chiefly small beetles, and also a few hard seeds of sorts.
In one bird I found the remains of various soft winged insects,
including a small moth and many metallic winged-flies; from another
I extracted several tiny pieces of yellow gravel, all of the same size
and shape, wz., regular ovals of about -05” in length by about -01” in
breadth at the centre.
I once shot a pair of these birds who were feeding on a Ficus in
company with a flock of Hemirus flavala.
(To be continued.)
JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOC. Plate A.
Robt Wroughton del. © Govt Phetozinco: Office, Poons '89!
Be tet
oN
JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOC. . Plate B.
DD
~A__
Robt Wroughton del. Govt Photozinco: Office Poone 1891.
OUR ANTS.
By Roserr Cuartes Wrovuauron, F.z.8., Deputy Conservator
of Forests, Poona.
Part I.
With Plates A and B.
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 5th April, 1891.)
I HAVE only come across two papers treating of the manners and
customs of ‘our’ ants (if I except a very short and very inaccurate
paper which appeared in ‘‘ Science Gossip ”’ many years ago). One
of these by Mr. Rothney has been reprinted in this Journal, and the
other will be found in ‘“‘Tribes on my Frontier.”’ In the latter
EK. H. A. has drawn a humorous but life-like picture of a few of the
commoner species. The colonizing ant of his Bath-Room is a
Dorylus; its black enemy is Camponotus compressus. The “ red ant
of Matheran” is of course dicophylla smaragdina ; the lively black
bungalow ant is certainly Prenolepis longicornis, and the ‘ brown’
ant almost as certainly Monomorium basale (= vastator) though the
name given is a libel, for basale is really a handsome yellow with a
black abdomen. His agricultural ant is a Holcomyrmezx, and finally
his hunting ant is a Poneride, and most likely a Lobopelta, but
there is less detail than usual in the notice of this species. The
facility with which I have been able to recognize these species,
from E. H. A.’s descriptions, has emboldened me to think that a
record of the manners and customs, which have come under my
notice in the last few years, during which I have been paying special
attention to the ants, would not be without value. Iam glad to
know that Dr. Forel, who has been so kind in identifying and, where
necessary, describing and naming my specimens for me, intends to
publish in this Journal the result of his labours. I propose therefore
to avoid all technical descriptions. I shall try, however, wherever
possible, to record any characteristic feature which may help to the
recognition of any species. In the following notes my facts are facts,
or have presented themselves to me as such, but my generalizations
must be taken cwm grano salis. No one is better aware than myself
how many-sided is the psychology of an ant; how differently is her
14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
brain constituted from ours and, consequently, how dangerous to
generalize from insufficient data. However “working hypotheses”
are a necessity, and I have tried to “put myself in her place (I have
always tried to remember that ants are practically all females and
‘advanced’ females at that) and have enunciated wherever possible
atheory. I shall be only too glad if others will collect and record
facts enough to upset one or all of them. I propose to do so myself,
if I can.*
The Order Hymenoptera, of the sub-kingdom Insecta, was divided
by Latreille into two primary sections, which are still retained.
Kirby in his “Elementary Text Book of Entomology” writes, “ It
“(z.e., the Order Hymenoptera) is primarily divided into Hymenoptera
“ terebrantta, in which the ovipositor is used as a borer, and the’
«* Hymenoptra aculeata, in which it is modified into a sting.”
The ants are usually ranked as the first Family of the aculeata which,
considering their social organization, so closely resembling, and even
surpassing to some extent, that of the Bees and Wasps(for these latter
have in no case a ‘soldier’ caste or form) seems surprising. The
reason probably is that in one whole sub-family of the ants, viz. :—
the Formicide, the sting, the distinguishing feature of the aculeata,
is wanting. Dr. Dewitz maintains that the sting in the Formicide is
undeveloped, but Sir J. Lubbock holds, that it is ‘‘ a case of retro-
gression contingent upon disuse’ on the ground that it is “ difficult
to suppose that organs—so complex and yet so similar—as the stings
of ants, bees and wasps should have been developed independently.”
He declines, however, to hazard an opinion as to whether the sting is
or is not a modified ovipositor. The whole question is evidently a
most difficult one to resolve, but I would note that Lubbock’s argument
quoted above, and which he states is, in his eyes, ‘‘ conclusive” might,
with the change of a few words, be used to prove that the Termites
® J have mentioned three papers on ants as only having come under my notice.,
I should however record that there is another one of old date by Dr. Jerdon. In this
a certain number of species are described and named, but I have not been able to.
obtain it for study. Some references to it, however, which I have come across, seem
to show that the manners and customs incidentally recorded therein are- truly,
described. The descriptions, however, were very imperfect, and the types haying.
been lost, the Doctor’s species are consequently also lost.
OUR ANTS. beta UF% 16
(or white ants) are also ants; for they, too, have a social organization
with modified female forms constituting ‘workers’ and ‘soldiers.’
Yet nothing can be more certain than that they (the Termites) belong
to an Order, viz.:—the Newroptera in no way allied even to the
Hymenoptera. ;
The ants, like the Wasps and Bees, are social. The Queen (9 ) has
wings (there are exceptions) which however drop off when she has
been fecundated. The Male (¢ ) is winged for life (with only one or
two known exceptions of apterous ¢ ). Every species of ant (again
with only one or two known exceptions) has, in addition to these,
at least one other and sometimes two other forms. The ‘ Worker’
(3%), that is, the apterous insect commonly known as the ‘ant’, like
the 9, has a sting (or its modification). She is in fact a Qin which
the generative organs haye totally, or partially, aborted, exactly corre-
sponding so far with the worker bee or wasp. In some species,
however, all the 3 are not alike inform. The 3 minor is compara-
tively small and, also, comparatively speaking, is normal in shape, 2.e.,
resembles the 2. While the 3 major is usually a grotesque looking
insect, considerably larger than the 3 minor, with a monstrous head.
Very often, as in the common large black ant of our bungalows, all
the intermediate gradations between these two forms may be found
in the same community. In some species, however, only the two
extreme forms are represented, they are then usually known as
‘ Worker’ ( 3) and ‘Soldier’ respectively. Lubbock believes that this
is related, in some way, to the division of labour, but I confess I have
never seen any proof of this. If a road along which Holeomyrmez
is harvesting grain be watched, it will be seen that the individual
vary in size from vs to fully § of an inch in length, and the biggest
by no means carry the biggest loads or work hardest. That the x
and soldier (*) however have different duties is certain ; for instance,
the latter will never be seen carrying grain, or doing manual labour ;
probably it is beneath her dignity, or possibly contrary to the
military regulations.
. ‘The ants resemble the wasps, and differ from the bees, in having
more than one ? in each nest For a very long time it was taken for
granted that a 9 did not outlive the year in which she'was born, and
on this misconception many theories were based. Sir J. Lubbock
16 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
however has amply proved that a ? not only can live 7 or 8 years,
but that her fecundity remains unimpaired. The 3 too, he has
shown, lives equally long, in this, assimilating to the bees rather than
the wasps, whose communities, in Kurope at any rate, are annual ones.
The body of an ant consists of 3 parts—Head, Thorax, and Abdo
men. The thorax however is not joined directly to the abdomen, but
is connected with it by a ‘ pedicle,’ the shape of which is of considerable
importance in classification. The antenrie in the 9 and 8 consist of
along shaft (1st joint) known as the ‘scape,’ and a ‘ flagellum’ of from
6 to 11 short segments, the apical ones, usually, forming a sort of
club. The number of segments is usually different in the 9 and ¢.
The antenne of the latter may contain as many as 17 joints, and the
first joint is usually not appreciably longer than the rest, and the
club shape is wanting. The eyes of ants are compound, consisting
of many facets, varying from 1 to 1,200 or 1,500. Some species,
however, are quite blind. In addition to these compound eyes, ants
have also ocelli, usually 3 in number, arranged in a triangle, with the
apex in front, on the top of the head, though sometinies the anterior
ocellus alone is present. Usually the 3 are without ocelli, which,
however, are always present in the 9 and 6. The pupa among the
ants is sometimes naked, and sometimes enclosed in a cocoon. It has
even been recorded that in the same species and even in the same
community the pupa is sometimes naked and sometimes not. The
abdomen, in the @ and 8 consists of 6 segments, in the 6 of 7,
Four main sub-divisions of the ants have hitherto usually been
recognized :—
1. Formicide :—having one node in the pedicle, destitute of sting,
pup naked or enclosed in a cocoon.
2. Poneride:—having one node in the pedicle, the second
segment of the abdomen constricted, armed with
a sting, pupe enclosed in a cocoon.
8. Dorylide :—pedicle and abdomen sometimes as in the Poneride,
sometimes as in the Myrmicide.
4. Myrmicide :—having two nodes in the pedicle, armed with a
sting, pupz naked.
Dr. Forel, of Ziirich, to whose works, and kind assistance, I am
indebted for most of the technical information contained in this
OUR ANTS. ; 17
paper, and especially for the identification of the species, substitutes
for the Formicide, two sub-divisions, based mainly on the form of
the gizzard, viz. :—
hain A -—pupe ordinarily piloted in a cocoon.
Dolichoderide :—pupzx, always naked.
I may be fanciful, but I have thought that I could trace degrees,
or rather phases, of ‘ civilization’, among the ants, corresponding very
fairly with the above‘classification. Among the Formicide we have
Prenolepis, the gipsy without any settled home, or at any rate so little
attached to it as to be ready to shift on the smallest provocation,
at one end of the scale, while at the other, Camponotus is found in
large permanent communities, keeping cattle, and living on their
produce. CMcophylla makes a nest of leaves, joined together with
a silky material, but this is the wigwam of branches of the savage,
and these nests are often constructed over and round aphides, etc., and
are in fact ‘ byres.’ Polyrachis has pushed farthest the practise of nest-
building (spinigera actually spins a complete bag of silk to line her
subterranean nest), still they are a timid retiring folk, living from
hand to mouth, on vegetable juices, and possibly on the produce of
their cattle, though I have never ascertained this last. The Poneride
are unequivocally in the hunting stage of civilization. Lubbock
says: “ Our English hunting ants generally forage alone. In warmer
climates, however, they hunt in packs and even in armies.”
According to my experience, this is not quite correct. Among the
Poneride, the social instinct is limited to domestic affairs, and to
occasional predatory raids. All the species,as a rule, and Ponera
(and perhaps others) always, forage singly. Should one of them
find.a prey, she will struggle with it single-handed, and even aban-
don it, but it will never enter her head to seek help. Indeed, I have
often fancied, I noticed a movement of impatience (unfit to be
recorded, I fear, even if it could be translated, and certainly unlady-
like) when astray % finding a sister struggling with a prey
beyond her powers has proffered assistance.* Among those species
which do organize raids, such as Lobopelta, when a ¥ finds, not a
single edible article, no matter how large, but a collection of titbits,
* Mr. Rothney tells me that this exactly accords with his experience.
ae AT ON
18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
which must be secured, working against time—such a find may
be, for instance, a dead branch lying on the ground covered with
white ant galleries, if by any chance these galleries have been
broken open—then the lucky finder seizes a termite, and starts for
home at a ‘ wolf’s trot,’ and. very shortly, a column of ants 4 or 9
abreast and several yards long is making for the spot at the double.”
The Dorylide are a mysterious folk, living deep in the bowels of the
earth, and nocturnal in their habits. Of the manners and customs
of Dorylus (or ‘ponerine branch’ as I may call them) I know
practically nothing. nictus (=myrmicine branch) is a disciplined
Lobopelta, and bears the same relation to the Poneride, as the Zulu
to the ordinary African negro. No individual foraging is under-
taken, all is done, as Lubbock puts it,“ in armies.” The formation
is usually wider than among the Poneride. Cinictus, though
belonging to the ‘ Myrmicine branch,’ has retained the very charac-
teristic ponerine method of carrying the prey, beneath the thorax
and abdomen, her legs straddling over it; a method unknown to
the other Families.f The Myrmicide, in part at least, have reached
the agricultural stage. Species which carry home food they have
found, in their stomachs, are comparatively the exception. The
lowest in the scale would seem to habitually carry home vegetable
products, though some do not seem to store them. The harvester
par excellence is Pheidole, who is run very close however by Holco-
myrmeaz and Solenopsis, both these latter, handicapped by their short
legs, so unsuited for cross-country work, have evolved the road-
making instinct (finding that course easier perhaps than evolving
longer legs). . Phetdole, nothing behind however in engineering
genius, practises a system of embankment against floods, fit to make
a Hollander green with envy. Cataulacus has lagged somewhat, she
seems to store no grain (though she certainly brings home vegetable
products), she keeps cattle, however, in the nest. Cremastogaster,
while only exceptionally using roads and omitting altogether to store,
+ That Lobopelta does not always follow this routine, however, is shown in an
interesting Note by Mr. Aitken on L. chinensis, which will be found further on, and
ee shows them adopting pure Doryline tactics.
+ Itis curious that, in Harope, Polyergus, a genus of the Formicide, and the
chief « slave dealer’, has adopted this peculiar method of transport.
OUR ANTS. , 19
food, has carried the art of nest-building to perfection. In some
species at any rate, as testified to me by Mr. Aitken and by Mr.
Taylor (Orissa), she still habitually keeps cattle, often enclosing them
in ‘ byres,’ specially built over them.”
Cattle—Ant cattle are usually Aphide or Cocci, some species
however tend various other species of Hemiptera, among which
may be named Leptocentrus taurus and Diaphorina guttulata.
Larve of the Lycenide, among the butterflies, also furnish a
considerable contingent of cattle. The following ants are recorded
by de Nicéville in his “ Butterflies of India,” as tending lycenid
larvee, viz. :—
FORMICLA :—
Camponotus rubripes (Drury).
Camponotus mitis (Smith).
Formica nigra (22=Camponotus sp).
CEcophylla smaragdina (Fab.).
Prenolepis longicornis (Latr.).
Prenolepis clandestina ( Mayr.).
Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fab, ).
MYRUICIDA :—
Monomorium speculare (Mayr.).
Monomorium latinode (Mayr. ).
Cremastogaster Nicévillei, MS. (Fore/).
Pheidole quadrispinosa (Jerdon).
Pheidole latinoda ( Roger).
Mr. de Nicéville does not say what he understands by ‘ tending
cattle,’ and though most of the above very likely do tend cattle, I
ean scarcely believe that Pheidole latinoda does so habitually. Of —
course any ant, even a Ponera, will stop to lick sugar when she comes
across it.
Pets.—It is very difficult to say where the line between pets and
cattle, on the one hand, and pets and fellow-lodgers, on the other,
* Though Cremastogaster does not store grain, I have seen perelegans, lie in wait
for Holcomyrmex, returning home, laden with grain, and by threats, rob her of her
load, on her own private road ; and this manceuvre was executed, not by stray indivi-
duals, but by a considerable portion of the whole community. Surely this is the
aeme of civilization,
20 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
should be drawn. That Aphide, Cocci, and lycenid larve are
distinctly cattle, there can be no doubt But in almost every ant’s nest
(or to speak more correctly in the immediate neighbourhood of it)
may almost always be found a crowd of Invertebrata. Thus one and
the same stone may cover a colony of Prenolepis Jongicornis, and
the entrance to the nest of a Pheidole, and even possibly to that of a
third species, and besides this, may be found to shelter “ wood-lice”’
(Oniscus), “* Fish insects’ (Lepisma), Chelifera, and true insects,
of widely different families, as beetles, bugs, cockroaches, crickets,
&e., &c. Itis impossible, as a rule, however, to say whether there is
any connexion between these and the ants, and, still more so, to define
the relation between them. That there is sometimes a connexion
between ZLepisma and certain species (curiously enough usually
Poneride) is shown by the observations on Anochetus, which I have
recorded further on, but even in that case, I failed to make out what
the relation was. The only case of ‘pets’ I have met with is re-
corded in my notice of Pheidole Wroughtoni, and even in that case it
remains doubtful whether these beetles (Paussus sp.) should not rather
be regarded as cattle. The fact that beetles, of this same genus,
are in other countries, also found domesticated in ant’s-nests, seems
to me to indicate, that they really are ‘cattle’, rather than mere
platonic ‘ pets.’
The crickets found by Mr. Aitken in the nest of Plagiolepis
longipes, would seem to be ‘ parasites’ rather than ‘pets’; they
apparently lived where they were found, for their own convenience
and not for the ants’ pleasure.
Mimicry.—lf imitation is the sincerest flattery, then the ants are
in danger of having their heads turned, so widespread and marked
is the imitation of them, by spiders and other insects. What,
however, is the cause or object of this mimicry, I have, in no case, been
able to make out. Is it a case of the ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing,’ or
the reverse? Amongst the most persistent of the ants’ flatterers are
the spiders. Mr. Rothney has already recorded in his paper that
certain spiders take the form of Sima rufo-nigra (Jerd.) and Sima
nigra (Jerd.) Besides these, I have found several specimens of a
spider, which, at a short distance, is almost indistinguishable from a ¥
of Camponotus opaciventris, whose mode of progression by a series of
ig
OUR ANTS. 21
rushes and pauses he copied closely. In the neighbourhood of
almost every strong colony of Cremastogaster contenta (Mayr), a
mimicking spider may be found, moving about at a jog trot, and
waving his abdomen in the air, exactly like Cremastogaster. Among
insects, I have taken a good many specimens of a bug, which has
achieved a very fair imitation of Polyrachis spinigera (under the
same stone with which it may often be found), even to the extent of
evolving a pedicle and spines, on what, were it an ant, would be its
metanotum. Curiously enough, however, these spines are apparently
not alike, in any two specimens. Is it, that this bug is still waiting
for one of its race to accidentally sport spines, more like those of
P. spinigera, and thus to set the ball of evolution rolling afresh ? or, is
it, that the present rough copy of the spines of spinigera, is found suffi-
cient to deceive, such a short-sighted, or rather, such an ‘indistinctly
seeing’ creature, as an ant, even at the shortest distance? In life, this
bug ‘humps’ his back in exact imitation of Polyrachis, and it is asto-
nishing how the loss of this gibbous outline, after the death of the bug,
detracts from its likeness to Spinigera, as far as the human eye is
concerned. Another, rather common, species.of hemipteron has not
taken the trouble to change his shape. It is of the ordinary shape
of the ‘wild’ bug, but, by the evolution of judicious patches of white,
which are practically invisible, the remaining dark portion of his
body simulates, very closely, the outline of a small ant, pedicle, and all
complete. I have often collected these nuisances (after an exciting
chase) for, what I hoped was, a new species of ant. The fact that, at
any rate in this case, the mimicry* is only effective from above, seems
distinctly to point to protective coloration. There is no accounting
-for tastes, yet, from the narrow human point of view, it does seem
astonishing, that any creature should exist, with so depraved a taste,
as to prefer this foul-smelling mouthful to an ant, even though the
formic acid of the latter, might make it taste rather ‘hot i’ the
mouth.’ The only other unmistakable case of mimicry I have met
is by an Ampulex (one of the Aculeata, and therefore a comparatively
near relation of the ants). Mr. Rothney has recorded this mimicking
insect in his paper, and I have noted my observations on it further
es
* Since this was written I have taken specimens of several species of Ptezoma-
chus which, though not imitating any special kind of ant and perfect mimics of an
ideal ant.
99 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
on, in writing of Sima rufo-nigra, of which species it is an ‘under-
study.’ On one occasion, with some trouble, I captured a rather
peculiar-looking specimen of Camponotus, and, it was only on close
examination, I found that my Camponotus had filiform antennz, over
an inch long, and was, in fact, a cricket. This occasion is, however,
the only time I have come across this insect, and I scarcely like to
claim it as a mimic, on such meagre evidence. Finally, I must note,
that certain black Mantide, in their earlier stages of development,
may easily be mistaken, at first sight, for a Camponotus % minor.
The resemblance is, however, only a general one, the insect retaining
the normal shape of a Mantis, so the resemblance may be merely an ~
accidental (!) one.
Grain, &c., harvested.—As may be supposed, the harvesting ants
only bring home single grains, consequently, it is very difficult to
identify the species harvested. | I believe, that all kinds of grass seed
are collected by one species, in one place or another. With great
trouble, I have been able to trace the two principal grasses, whose
seeds are commonly harvested in the Dekhan, and these, Dr. Lisboa
has most kindly identified for me as Tragus racemosus=Sappago aliena
(Dalz and Gibson) =Sappago biflora (Roxb.), and Eleusine mucronata.
T have also seen the cultivated ‘nachni’ or ‘nagli’ (Hileusine corocana)
being carried home. Mr. James Taylor informs me, that he has seen
rice also harvested, by ants, in Orissa. The seeds are usually brought
into the nest intact, there, they are husked, and the chaff brought out,
and strewn round the entrance. Dr. Lisboa suggests that, perhaps,
this accumulation of chaff serves as a fortification, for which purpose,
as he points out, the “muricated spikelets of Tragus and the
pointed awns of E. mucronata are well adapted.” ‘This is very
possible for some species of ants, and, Meranoplus bicolor (Guér.) and
Triglyphothrixz Walshi (Forel), the entrance to whose nests are very
narrow, only bring home clean grain. Curiously enough, these same
species (or at any rate Meranoplus) harvest asmall purple flower, and,
in that case, they bring home the whole flower, and strew the petals
round the entrance, exactly as Pheidole, and the others, do the chaff of
the grass seed.
Slavery.—I believe our Indian ants are above anything of the
zort. I can certainly say I have never been able to find the faintest
OUR ANTS. 23
trace or indication of it. Mr. Rothney tells me, that the late
Frederick Smith, specially called his attention to the possible practise
of slavery, by Myrmecosystus viaticus (who is known to practise it
elsewhere). However, Mr. Rothney wishes to record, as the result
of twelve years’ observation of ant habits in India, that his experience
exactly agrees with mine, and that he totally failed to find any “ trace
of slavery among Indian ants.”’ Similar testimony is borne by
Major Yerbury and Messrs. Aitken and Taylor.
Nothing has struck me more than the activity and energy of ‘our
ants,’ as compared with those of Europe, contrasting so strongly, as
it does, with the “limpness”’ of the human natives of this country.
Nests.—The ants are very impatient of drought (Lubbock, Forel,
and all who have studied ants in confinement, mention the difficulty
of preventing evaporation, from the artificial nests). This, no doubt,
influences the form and situation of the nests, adopted by them, in their
natural state. The form of nest, so common in Europe, represented
by a heap of pine-needles, leaves, twigs, &c., is never seen out here.
The vast majority of nests, here, are subterranean, indeed, the propor-
tion is so large that this may be said to be the normal situation.
Almost all the rest are found in hollows in trees, such as those of
Cataulacus, Sima, some species of Pheidole and of Cremastogaster.
A few species habitually fix their headquarters in leaf-blisters,
gails, &c., 7. ¢., in cavities in the living tissues of trees ; these are rare,
and the only bond fide case I can mention is the Cardiocondyla
Wroughtoni (Forel), which lives in blisters on the leaf of the
Jambhul.* Finally, a few species construct nests, more or less
elaborate, such are’ @cophylia and some species of Polyrachis (which
construct nests by joining together growing leaves with some silky
material) and Cremastogaster Rogenhoferi and C. ebeninus, and
perhaps some other species, which build nests of a material which
looks like cow-dung, but which is, probably, a sort of coarse brown
paper, manufactured from vegetable tissues, and suspend them from
the branches of trees, like wasps’ nests. The normal situation for the
nest of a species is, however, not always strictly adhered to. I have
noticed that, on the Ghats, with a heavy rainfall and abundance of
24 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
large trees, there is a tendency, with subterranean species, to become
quasi-arboreal, while in the dry, treeless country of the Eastern
Dekhan, the tendency is the other way. Moreover, I thought, when
I was in Thana in 1884, that I detected several cases of change
of locality with the seasons, which would be easily accounted for by
the very heavy rainfall of the Konkan. Unfortunately, however, I
did not record any notes, so that my conjecture is of little value,
except as a hint for future observers. Amongst the species which
nest in the ground, there is a great difference in the form of the
nest. Among the Formicide, the normal plan of the nest would seem
to be a main shaft (often branching near the surface to more than
one opening, especially when the entrance is under a stone), which
runs down obliquely, to a main chamber, which is surrounded, on the
same plane, by a maze of passages, widening in places into subsidiary
chambers. The depth, below the surface, of this main floor, is seldom
very great. With the Poneride, there is usually a maze of passages
and chambers, close to the’ surface (at the surface when the nest is
_ under astone) with a main vertical shaft, going to a considerable
depth, and ending in a main chamber. | I have had to dig 4 feet to
reach the main chamber of a nest of Botthroponera sulcata. I know
nothing of the nesting of the Dorylide ; it has never been my good
fortune to find a nest, but I live in hope. The nests I have heard
of have always been in the foundations of a bungalow ; as, for instance
the flight of 3, from the floor of his bathroom, recorded by H. H. A.
Should I ever find a nest, I can only hope, it may be in some one
else’s bungalow, for I have got to dig that nest. With the Myrmi-
cide, the normal plan, is a vertical shaft, ending below in a main
chamber, with numerous subsidiary chambers or landings (formed
by the widening of the main shaft) at frequent intervals. From
each of these landings, horizontal passages (1, 2, or 3) run outa
short distance, and end ina chamber. The main chamber is very
deep as a rule; with such a minute species as T'riglyphothrie Walshi,
I have had to dig 8 feet to reach it. Ido not of course pretend to
maintain that this normal plan is always strictly adhered to; on the
contrary, [imagine it is the very rare exception. There are
differences of taste in architecture amongst ants, no doubt, as
amongst humans, and, moreover, the nature of the soil must
OUR ANTS. 25
often make the construction, on the strictly normal plan, an
impossibility. .
Origin and maintenance of Communities. —The question as to how
communities ate formed, is a most interesting one, and its solution
is not without importance. For instance, Wallace, in an argument,
leans a good deal on the distribution of ants, treating them as
‘apterous insects.’ If however the Qcan, unaided, found a colony,
the argument becomes useless, for then, the ‘ ant’ ceases, for his
purpose, to be an ‘apterous insect.’ There would seem to be three
ways in which a nest might conceivably be founded, viz. :-—
1. By acolony being, in some way, cut off from the parent nest.
2. By afew (or many) 8 joining theniselves to a fecund 9, and
starting a new nest.
3. By afecund 9 originating a nest singleshanded.
At one time, it was generally held that the 2nd was the ordinary
method, that the 1st was very rare, and that the 3rd was quite
exceptional, or indeed impossible. Later observations have quite
upset this view.
Dr. Forel has such an interesting paper in his ‘‘ Etudes Myrme-
cologiques,” 1884, that I cannot refrain from making a few
extracts. After noting that Lubbock has discovered, and proved, the
longevity of ants, which, before, were supposed to live only for
one year, or less, he continues: “ Another point of the greatest
“* importance is, that Lubbock has succeeded in seeing isolated @ of
“« M. ruginodis, rear, single-handed, from the egg, larve, pup», and
** perfect 3. * * * Fritz Miller has arrived at the same result
*“«for the Yermites, in so far that, he has shown, that the king and
*¢ queen undoubtedly live several years. It is no longer necessary
*‘ therefore to hold Hiber’s opinion, viz.:—that a new fecund Q is
‘required, each year, to continue the community. Hiiber saw fecund 2 |
*« retained by the 3 , who stripped them of their wings; I have myself
“ seen this occur, though very rarely, with Lasius flavus, but. never
‘ with any other species.” After pointing out the extreme desira=
bility of discovering how long a Q retains her fecundity, 7. e., “ her
power of producing 3 and@, and not merelyd, which last, as is
well known, can be produced by parthenogenesis,” he says : ‘‘ Weare
** thus led to believe that, probably, all the individuals ofa community
4
26 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
“are the issue of the one or more, who originally founded the
“ community. The individuals of a community are not, therefore,
“as I once thought, the lineal descendants of a foundress 9, but
actually her children. This would explain how ‘ racial,’ and even
“‘ ‘varietal,’ characteristics, are so unchangingly maintained, in a com-
“ munity. It follows from this that, when the one or more 9 of a com-
‘‘ munity die, or lose their fecundity, through old age, the community
“ dies out also. The case of a community, formed by the separa-
“ tion of a colony from the parent nest is, therefore, exceptional, and
“cannot extend its duration. .The possibility, that wandering ¥
“‘ attach themselves to a fecund 9, and assist her (as conjectured by
“ Lepeletier and myself) remains, and is admitted, even by Lubbock.”
Further, Dr. Forel, im a letter to myself, writes: ‘* Blochmann —
“has resolved the question in a manner absolutely definitive. It is
“the fecund 2 sola, who founds the new nest, or at least an associa-
“‘ tion of fecund 9.” I confess I have always been so convinced, that
the ordinary method was No. 2, that I have been always on the
look out for facts, such as the observations of Mr. Taylor and Major
Yerbury, on Cicophylla smaragdina, showing thatit was possible
for aQsola to found a community, believing that method to be
exceptional. Mr. Rothney, whom I have consulted, assures me
he has always held the same view and, consequently, has never
specially recorded any observations, showing “ foundation” by the
2nd method. However, his note on Polyrachis levissima, would
seem to show that communities are sometimes originated in this way.
The theory that a nest never adopts a new 9, but that the duration
of a nest depends absolutely on the existence of the foundress 2, asa
producer of %,is strongly supported by (if it does not directly follow
from)the abandonment of the view that the fecund 9 is, ordinarily
assisted by 3 in the task of founding the nest. I would point out
to members how valuable would be any observations, which they may
be able to make and record bearing on this question, of the manner
in which ant communities are founded and maintained. A nest
formed, by scission from a parent nest, is undoubtedly exceptional,
for a cataclysm (from an ant’s point of view) of sufficient magnitude,
to abruptly and completely stop all communication between a colony,
and the parent nest, must be of very rare occurrence.
OUR ANTS. 97
The senses of ants. This is a most interesting subject, and one
on which a good deal has been written ; but I have, so far, gleaned
little that throws any light on the many vexed questions involved in
it in connection with ‘our’ ants. I can only refer any member
interested in the matter to Sir J. Lubbock’s “The Senses of
Animals,” as containing the most easily available summary of the
question. There is one point in that work, however, on which
Tam able to offer an ‘ experience.’ Lubbock records that a Mutilla
(a genus closely allied to the ants) “makes, when alarmed, a
rather sharp noise by rubbing one of the abdominal rings against
the other ;”’ a similar organ has been found in the genus Ponera,
** which, in the structure of its abdomen, nearly resembles Mutilla,”
and finally, in the ‘ true ants,” has been found ‘a similar rasp-like
organ in the same situation.” He adds, however, “that ants
produce no sounds which are audible to us.” I am almost certain,
however, that I have heard such sounds. When one of the large
‘brown paper’ nests of Cremastogaster Kogenhoferi is violently, and
suddenly, disturbed, the ants swarm out in thousands, ‘ wagging’
their abdomens, in the manner so characteristic of Cremastogaster
when excited; at such times a distinct hissing sound is audible,
as if a red-hot cinder had been plunged into water. I had always
accounted for this by supposing it was caused by the material of the
nest under the feet of the ants, and a similar, though fainter, sound,
which may be heard when a large nest of Camponotus, or Polyrachis
spinigera, is disturbed, by the rubbing together of the bodies of the
ants, whoare all in violent movement at once. The passage from
Lubbock quoted above, however, leads me to think that this is not go,
but that the audible noise is the sum of the individual stridulations
of countless ants. The ‘tail wagging’ of Cremastogaster would
account for the sound made by them being louder, though they are
so much smaller than Camponotus or Polyrachis. I had asked Mr.
Aitken to make some experiments to check the results I thought
I had obtained. Members will no doubt recognize his hand in the
following characteristic note which fully supports my contention.
“I do not need to experiment. The roar raised by a squadron of
‘““Lobopelia, if you poke at them with a straw, does not require
“to be listened for with your hand to your ear. I should like,’
28 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
“ however, to know something about the ‘organs’ by which it is
“ produced. Military drums! I should think.’*
The following is a catalogue of the species of ants which have come
under my notice, or have been sent to me, with short notes of such
manners and customs as have struck myself, or my correspondents,
as worth recording. Almost all the species recorded have been
identified, or named, by Dr. Forel, to whom I cannot sufficiently
express my gratitude ;: | must record here, as a caution, however,
that all these names cannot be guaranteed correct. They are
sufficiently so to act as pegs, on which to hang the few notes I have
collected ; and I trust that Dr. Forel will, in due course, publish, in
detail, the result of his final examination, in this Journal. I have
decided not to delay the publication of these notes, in the hope
that some member may be sufficiently interested by them, to decide
to lend a hand, by collecting notes and specimens. The latter are
especially wanted now, atonce. The greater the number of speci-
mens, from different localities, submitted for examination to
Dr. Forel, the more thorough and § pucka,’ will be the results he
will be able to give us, in the pages of our Journal, In view of
Dr. Forel’s promised papers, I have carefully avoided all technical
descriptions, save only a few, fairly obvious characteristics, which
I have gleaned from the works of Messrs, Mayr, Emery and Roger,
and which, I hope, will enable members to make a rough guess
at the genus. I offer the plates in fear and trembling; draughts-
manship has no part in my constitution, alas! If they are any
way presentable, it is due to Mr, Tom Le Mesurier’s artistic
powers; had they been altogether his, they would certainly have
been better. I must also record my obligations and thanks to my
most patient teacher in myrmecology and very good friend, Dr.
Forel, and to all the gentlemen who have so kindly helped me
by sending me notes and specimens, May their number increase !
FORMICIDA.
A. CAMPONOTIDAL.
In the Camponitide, the cloacal orifice is smal], circular, apical
* Since the above was written, Dr Forel has called my attention to the fact that
he had long ago recorded that some European species of Camponotus make an audible
noise when their nest is disturbed. ;
xe
af
OUR ANTS. 29
and ciliate. In the insect, seen from above, all the segments of the
abdomen are visible, the fifth being conical and apical.
Gen. 1. Camponotus (Mayr).
The genus Camponotus may be recognized by the trapeziform
epistome. It is, however, easily distinguished from the next, by
the two first segments of the abdomen being sub-equal in length.
There are two forms of 8, differing immensely in size and shape,
but connected by a series of intermediate forms. The genus is best
represented by the large black ant, so common about our buanga-~
lows, the species of which varies with the locality. (In Northern
India it seems to be replaced by another genus, viz.,.—Myrmecocys-
tus.) Wherever Camponotus is found, a search, more or less
protracted, will often disclose, that she has a colony of ‘cattle’
somewhere. These ‘cattle’ are usually either lyczenid larve or some
species of homopteron. In the eastern part of the Poona District
nearly every babhul tree (Acacia Arabica) will be found covered
with Camponotus, the ascending individuals, sleek and black, the
descending, bloated, and showing whitish rings between the
segments of the monstrously distended abdomen. I have never
been able to decide whether they had ‘cattle’ up aloft, or were
extracting, directly, the vegetable juices, with which they were
evidently distended. Mr. Aitken, who isa close observer, and to
whom I propounded the problem, wrote to me: “ 1 have come to the
*< conclusion, that one of the most important sources of ‘ food supply,’
‘‘which ants have, is the sacchariferous glands, to be found at the
“bases of so many leaves. The Banian (Ficus Indica) leaf, is
* January and February, has a smear of sweets, just at the junction
“of the leaf and its stem, which is in great request, even among
“ parrots and squirrels (you will see the latter rushing about the tree,
‘‘ giving a lick to each leaf in turn). How much more ants!” I
must confess that my observations corroborate this view. ‘lhe mar-
riage flight takes place, as recorded in his paper by Mr. Rothney,
and by Jerdon, in June, after the first monsoon showers, usually in
the evening orat night, though on cloudy, drizzling mornings, I have
seen the exodus of 2 and ¢d continue up to 8, or even 10 a. Mm.
The genus, I believe, is normally crepuscular, and during the hot
weather there is very little activity displayed, but, as soon as
30 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
the rain falls, and the skies are clouded, the whole community
swarms to the surface, and % may everywhere be found, seizing
and carrying off the dead and dying ¢, of their own, and other
species, evidently as food, so that their regimen is not always
strictly limited to pastoral products. Probably, at this time of the
year, their cattle are immature, and vegetable juices are not easily
available. They are great wanderers, and I scarcely ever remember
to have commenced digging a nest of Pheidole, Holeomyrmesx, or any
other species, without 3 of some species of Camponotus turning up
apparently in a terrible hurry, and evidently attracted by the
concussion, caused by the blows of my pick. When larve or
pup were turned up, each individual seized on one, and made off
in the same excited, hurried way, in which she arrived.
1. C. maculatus (Fab.) race:—compressus (Fab.)
Poona Districts ........ (8 @ ¢ in June).
IEE diane Sar bucdososoboscoueHagdooce H. H. Aitken.
CigProvinces! weese ses see ss catee J. A. Betham.
Salem, Madras «........:s0...-0000- A. Burroughs Sharpe
Sunderbuns .........04 cesceesersorees Robt. Hllis.
Bengal, Madras. G. A. J. Rothney, (Q@ d in May and June).
Dharmsala, Punjab.........:........ Major Sage.
Rai BaretlieOudl eet ec. esses. Dr. Simpson.
Kondmals, Orissa ...2.0....2:t.... Jas. Taylor.
Trincomalee, Ceylon............... Major Yerbury.
This is a very common species, distributed, more or less, all over
India. I have often found it ‘herding’ Leptocentrus taurus.
Mr. Cotes, of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, who kindly identified
this bug for me, wrote: ‘‘1 saw this species in Dehra Dun last year,
“on the branches of a tree, attended by a lot of large black ants,
“ which Itook to be the common C. sylvaticus.’’* I did not observe
«6 them very carefully however. Mr. Wood-Mason also notices, that he
‘< has seen a similar insect attended by ants in Calcutta.” Ihave also
found it tending a species of Psyllid, which, through the kindness
of Mr. Cotes, has been identified, by M. Lethierry, as a new species
of Diaphorina, and named, and described by him, in the Journal of
* C, sylvaticus (Oliv.) is a synonym of this species.
OUR ANTS. 31
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, under the name of guttulata. Mr.
de Nicéville records this, or a closely allied race, as tending larva
of the following Lycenide, viz.:—1 Chilades laius (Cramer), 2
Oatochrysops cnejus (Fab), 3 Tarucus theophrastus (Fab.), 4
Polyommaius beticus (Lin.),
2. C. maculatus (Fab.), race :— Taylort, (Forel in MS.).
Bombay.
Coonoor, Madras ............ vaep eee R. W. Daly.
oud nials?, Orissa. icadscass wxeetes Jas. Taylor (type).
I found a few specimens of this species, on the side of the high
road, at the back of Treacher’s shop, close to the University
Gardens, in Bombay. |
3. C. maculatus (Fab.) race :—mitis (Smith.)
Poona Districts.
IG AMAR A coven siavecsquheusay datessceses's »H. H. Aitken.
Coouoor, Madras). tecccdacsoursacsses: R. W. Daly.
ih. Abas Ray pub ma. o..s60 gtces senses F. Gleadow.
Wondmals, Orissa.vecsg..00. oes aiertndas. bay lor,
Wivanevant, BOP + toc. scesioreeserccss oe H. Y. Watson.
Mrancomalee, Ceylon ci decascessaoree Major Yerbury.
Not a rare species, but on the Bombay side, the next seems to
be the common form. In forwarding specimens from Ceylon,
Major Yerbury wrote: “In great numbers on the ‘ bher’ trees below
Fort Frederick (17-1-91 to 17-2-91). It is apparently in attendance
‘©on a species of homopteron.* I searched round the bher trees
‘for a nest, but could findnone. In addition to attending on the
“homoptera as above, I have seen this ant in attendance ona
“coccus on a bher tree and another coccus on a jungle creeper.
“ On 17-1-91 I found ono bher tree a lycenid pupa from which
“ Spalgis epius d¢ emerged; there was a single ant in attendance
“on it. Since then I have found three lycanid larve feeding on the
“bher berries, but only on one occasion saw an ant in attendance.
“This species of ant is therefore pastoral and attends on several
“insects of diverse genera.” Mr. de Nicéville found it attending
* the lyceenid larva of Lampides elianus
* Tho insect referred to is identical with, or very closely related to, Leptocentrus
taurus mentioned above.
32 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
4. ©. mitis (Smith) var. fusct-thoraa ( rae
Poona Districts.
JE GHOR IED chgdies nsgucdecoUaseaGaae ss Gcee 5: HK. H. Aitken.
Coonoor, Madras ..... i einweie tance R. W. Daly.
Trincomalee, Ceylon .::.......s....Major Yerbury.
Calbtitta...tokcis.ed-scssedsinssreetec se Ow As do Robhney,
This seetns to be the common Bombay form of the last. It is
rarely found outside the nest. It is pale coloured.
5. OC. mitis (Smith) var. crassinodts (Forel in M&.).
Lea ovia\ JBAUNAOTEH, (34/5600 s5e0sqan0ede Major Bingham. (6-91 6 @)
Major Bingham took this variety with the witiged sexes in
June, 1891.
6. C. maculatus (Fab.) race—dichyous (Forel) var. Kattensis
(Forel in MS.).
Dharmsala, Punjab'*'.............s;Major Sage.
Mussoori, N.-W. Ps ....s.sssseeeee ee: G. A. J. Rothney.
This is the Indian representative of the European species
C. dichrous, and is probably exclusively Himalayan.
7. C. maculatus (Fab:) race—imfuscus (Forel in MS8.):
Ceylone sends. co.ce joodonodecooogaca Major Yerbury (5-91 ¢).
8. 0. maculatus (Fab.) race—junctus (Forel in MS.).
Barrackpore ......G. A. J. Rothney.
9. C. invidus, (Forel in MS.)
Kondmals, Orissa... ..... Jas. Taylor.
10. C. angusticolliis (Jerdon).
POOWR) ce cneccaeee- 6-91 2).
Thana Dists: ...... Ff. Gleadow:
Kanara.......:..... H. Aitken:
I have never found a nest of this species in Poona; bit have
taken the @ in Jurie: Mr. Gleadow sent me some @ and one or
two from Thana.
11. C. vadiatus (Forel in MS.).
Kanara....:.......H. H. Aitken:
AMGRRAEY 35555309856 F. Gleadow.
12. ©. dorycus (Smith), race.—ca/in (Emery).
Bombay.
OUR ANTS. 33
I took a single specimen, in May, 1890, but I have no record of
the exact locality. I have a suspicion it was in Bombay. The type,
described by Emery, came from Tenasserim.
18. C. Nicobarensis. var: exiguoguttatus (Forel).
Bava... ceie esses Major Bingham and EH. Y. Watson.
This seems to be a common species in Burma, but is not found
I think in the Bombay Presidency. Mr. Aitken, however, some
years ago, sent me a specimen from Kanara, very closely allied to
this species, but has never been able to obtain any more for me.
14. C. micans (Nyl).
Poona Districts.
Calentta, Beniwals cc snccnacece shen G. A. J. Rothney.
This is not a common species in India, where it is represented by
the next.
15. OC. micans (Nyl). race: paria (Emery).
Poona Districts.
KRoamiara,........ Beng es ceive apace sae BK. H. Aitken.
Moonee MATOS: cs 1se ances coeenes R. W. Daly.
Wharmsala, Panjab.......ccsee,:« ...Major Sage.
ag eo, | DMPA! 254.5 c0rde senses KE. Y. Watson.
RaW ANEGOIME? titel ce staves sacvcateets: H. S. Ferguson (a variety).
Calcutta; Benares; Mussoori...G. A. J. Rothney. |
Magras “Colombo ...,...¢cscesseras G. A. J. Rothney.
16. C. micans (Nyl). race: rufoglaucus (Jerd).
Ceylon....... Strok aneeertey ven dsleacics Major Yerbury.
O. micans (Nyl). race: dolendus (Forel in MS.)
Dharmsala, Punjab ............. ..Major Sage.
17. C. sericeus (Fab). var: opaciventris (Mayr).
Poona Districts
PiaR ere eo distil owe sede cae dow sane H. H. Aitkenand T.R.D. Bell.
Dalemry Madras acco siccvee es ocasives A. Burroughs Sharpe.
HpeVRMCOME ease edacsasa< dessa uens H. S. Ferguson.
"Thana DisthiCtS sirdiadstiessa2sceven F. Glecdow.
Bengal ics EN abiotive Belg abe ci Gi G. A. J. Rothney (type).
Dharmsala, Punjab .............6 Major Sage,
.
oO
34 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Kondmals, Orissa ..:.... 20.5.0 ...das. Taylor.
Trincomalee, Ceylon ...........++8 Major Yerbury.
Madras -(@olomiloo) “ee.esapasecemeter G. A. J. Rothney.
A wide-spread and common species but timid and retiring. At first
sight, it looks more like a Polyrachts than a Camponotus. The com-
munities are usually small, and the 3 do not seem to differ so much
in form, as in other species, or perhaps it is that the 8 major are
rare. The nest is subterranean, and nob always easy to find; it is
generally furnished with a built-up tubular entrance, rising less
than an inch above the surface ; this porch is built of minute pieces
of grass, worked up with mud, and, to my mind, seems to fore-
shadow the building genius of the next genus. Mr. Aitken writes
to me of this species. ‘ Found crossing dusty roads singly, and
«‘ apparently without object. Nest, a hole in open sandy plains ;
“cannot be dug up, because the loose sand rolls down, and
obliterates everything ; the ants must plaster the inside, or line
‘it with silk. They bring out the sand, one grain at a time,
“ working in great haste. The entrance is a very small hole.
‘¢ This ig one of the commonest ants in Kanara, but I never saw it
“carrying anything, and fancy it lives on vegetable juices, or
ep Gless
18. C.camelinus (Smith). var : singularis (Smith).
IBID acoonosne SCs Mer diar ane Major Bingham.
Major Bingham took this species in the Pegu Hails in April, 1889.
19. CO. Buddhe. (Forel in M 8.)
Ibealnomll, AVanlses so4nce ‘epsehooobsube Major Sage.
Major Sage brought back a single specimen from Lahoul.
Gen. 2. Catozopsis (Mayr).
In contradistinction to the trapeziform epistome of Camponotus,
this genus has the borders of the epistome practically parallel; it is
moreover characterized by the peculiar truncate appearance of the
fore part of the head, this peculiarity is especially noticeable in the
3 major.
20. Col. pubescens (Mayr).
Moalmain, Burma ....... Maeda sea Major Bingham.
Major Bingham writes: “ Emits an acrid white froth when seized
like Bothroponera rufipes.”
OUR ANTS. 35
Gen. 3. Potyracuts (Shuckard).
In this genus, the first segment of the abdomen is as long as all
the rest together, which gives the abdomen a spherical form. There
is only one form of 8, which, moreover, varies very little in size.*
All the species are more or less armed with spines. The genus is
little developed on this side of India, and especially in the Dekhan,
but from Burma some 20 species are recorded. The Bombay
species are never found in our bungalows; they are a quiet,
timid folk. Though I have frequently watched them, I have never
been able to detect their source of food supply. I have noticed
that even the arboreal species seem to come to the ground when
foraging. The use of a spun material in the nest seems to
differentiate it from Camponotus in India, though, I believe, this
difference does not hold good all over the world, as the two
genera are at present divided.
21. P. levior (Roger) race: debts (Emery.)
Poona Districts.
Maria IISEPICIS 6c ite. sondeswcses oxen ane ..F. Gleadow. —
eh ere hese se cdenda saveatauwene'st E. H. Aitken.
This is a comparatively rare species in the Dekhan, where I have
only taken it twice, near the Ghats ; but in the moist Konkan, it is
fairly common, as it seems to be also in Kanara. It is easily
distinguishable from the other Bombay species, by its shiny,
polished appearance. It is arboreal, and makes a nest by joining
together two leaves, with a band ‘of spun material, more or less
adulterated with some vegetable product; both tbe nests I took
were on fig trees (Ficus glomerata) ; and the adulterating material
was composed of minute particles, or scales, of the bark. Dr. Forel
is inclined to regard this as a synonym of rastellata. J must
repeat that members must wait for a definite solution of this and
similar questions until Dr. Forel’s critical study of ‘our ants’
reaches this genus.
22. P. levissima (Smith).
Moulmain, Burma....... eadgece 2 ..... Major Bingham.
Calcutta and Barrackpur............ G. A. J. Rothney.
* (Here and elsewhere where this remark is made it refers to normal 3; the 3
of a young nest, i, e, the first born of a 4, are nearly always undersized.)
36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Mr. Rothney notes: ‘‘Nest on tree trunks, formed of a papyra-
« ceous material. Swarms June 15th to July 7th. On one occasion
“TJ had a small colony started in the flap pocket of a leather bag,
« hanging in my verandah, at Barrackpur, where an apterous @,
“anda few %, took up their residence, throwing a light silky
«‘ web across the open flap.”’
23. P. rastellata (Latr.).
Trincomalee, Ceylon .............0. Major Yerbury.
In sending me this species, Major Yerbury wrote :—‘ Nest a
“number of leaves, spun together, to form a rough cylinder, and
“one end stopped up.” He describes this as a very active species:
24. P. bihamata (Drury),
Te sorwdoe Ml deere bare yaya <anoduanonnsene Major Bingham.
Major Bingham took this species in the Taungyin Valley im
January, 1891.
25. P. armata (Le Guillow).
LB THRONE 3 bo09c6 oo spooRSoS qanoVasueod GbE Major Bingham.
Major Bingham wrote:—‘‘ Not uncommon; the variety with
“the black abdomen commoner ; both varieties found on the same
‘‘tree, but never in the same nest. I found, in June, in the
‘‘ Ataran Valley, a huge nest of the black variety, measuring
Al 3” X 2/7" X 54", made of papery material, against a door, ina
“forest rest-house.”’
26. LP. chalybea (Smith). ,
IBIIEATMG so 9-5s5-06Nes sogandonne -..0e..-- Major Bingham.
Taken in the Ataran Valley in February, 1890.
27. P. bicolor (Smith).
Ataran Valley, Burma ...... we... Major Bingham.
Calcutta and Barrackpore ......... G. A. J. Rothney.
Mr. Rothney writes me of this species: “ Habits same as,
CNP PLDs.
28. P. dives (Smith).
Peou dail ss ipruncmar isso .t sees: ..Major Bingham.
Tounghoo, Burma. ....... poenocenabeuee Hi. Y. Watson.
Major Bingham writes: “ Not common; I found one nest, in
Pegu, made round the foot of a little bush.”
OUR ANTS. 37
29. P. argentea (Mayr).
CSA EE hi dele este awe de tae w....H. H. Aitken (6/90 $ @).
Barrackpore, Bengal............ ..G. A. J. Rothney.
I have only received this species from Kanara, where it seems to
be common; the habitat of the ‘type’ is given as Manilla. From
Mr. Aitken’s description, it is apparently very lke P. levior in its
habits, and makes its nest in the same way.
30. P. spinigera (Mayr).
Poona Vistricts.......<c000es (10/90 ¢ @).
Rangoon, Burma. ............ Major Bingham (a variety).
Siri Districts)... <0. <.ean%~ I. Gleadow.
Siwaliks, N.-W.. P. .......0 H. M. Phipson.
Calcutta, Bengal ............ G. A. J. Rothney (type).
Mrssoorty NeW... Ps. ssacccees G. A.J. Rothney ( 3 @ ¢ May,1872).
Demicomale® 7. ..5s.ces.es etens Major Yerbury.
This species is very common in the Dekhan, indeed, in places,
scarcely a stone can be turned over without exposing an existing,
or deserted, nest; this is formed in a cavity in the soil (under a
stone, or close alongside of it), which is lined with material resem-
bling silk forming a bag with only one opening. The texture of this
silk is fairly strong, and, with a little care, I have succeeded in
digging up the bag intact. Dr. Forel suggested to me the possibi-
lity that this nest was not the work of Polyrachts, but the deserted
dwelling of a Mygale, or some allied spider. I have, however, satis-
fied myself that this is not so. Harlyin June, 1890, I found in my
garden, under a stone, a community of spinigera, who, apparently,
had lately migrated, for the subterranean cavity was lined, notas usual
with a web, but with a silvery varnish only. A week later, however,
I found that this varnish had become the normal, pale brown, silky
material. Moreover, in raising the stone, at my second vist, I tore
the material which had apparently been made to adhere to the stone.
I made several inspections at intervals of a week, and on each occa-
sion I tore the material of the nest, to search for 9 and d specimens,
and, on each following visit, I found the rent repaired; so that
this material is clearly the handiwork of spinigera. Spinigera can,
however, and does, under changed conditions, change her style
‘
38 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL.HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
of architecture. In January, 1891, I found a small community,
of which all the individuals, save the 9, were only half the
usual size; in this case, the nest was situated at the roots of
a bunch of grass; it was in the shape of an inverted thimble,
made of the usual silky material, and not covered in any way.
Mr. Phipson brought me a nest of this species from the Sivaliks.
It was formed by drawing together several living stalks of grass (or
reeds), and jcining them with the usual silk material, but, in this case,
much mixed with bits of dry broken grass, possibly in order to
give greater cohesion to the web, and thus better enable :t to resist
the strain, caused by the tendency of the stalk of grass to fly apart.
Mr. Rothney writes: ‘In Calcutta and Barrackpore the nests are
‘formed of web-work, binding together a few twigs of a spiny
“shrub. The winged sexes are to be found in the end of May.”
He also notes that the mimicking bug, which I have already men-
tioned, “‘also assumes arboreal habits, and can be generally found
“ on the trunks of trees, in company with the 8 of this species.”
dl. P. furcata (Smith).
Salween Valley, Burma.................- Major Bingham.
Major Bingham writes: “‘ Makes a nest of papery stuff between
*« two leaves.”
32. P. furcata (Smith) race: gracilior (Forel in MS).
APN VENOCOMS,cdsouodsudcaudooasagceobod Hi. 8. Ferguson.
33. PL. Jerdont (Forel in MS).
HMmnacorenalless “Gees sbodaoenuod ssc6550db0e Major Yerbury.
Major Yerbury writes: “ Nest a web on the trunk of a smooth-
« barked tree.””
34, P. Indica (Mayr).
Minera) IDISWAGISS sos 4dnoohesdeansose-as .. F. Gleadow.
i caimeuipen em ctotiaiowionn saa cacine: Mme eien ume eee ED aes
I took a nest of this species in Thana in the rains of 1885. The
irregularities in the bark of an old mango tree had been roofed over
to form the nest. My recollection is that the material used was not
the usual silk web, but a kind of mud cement: in a note made at
the time I find, “looks like a termite workshop.”
OUR ANTS. 39
35. P. thrinax (Roger).
Kamara: :....c00. Weacsesmesaes dicey, Big EX. Aitken.
RAVEOOTS Jc ictdesteasedon cases H. S. Ferguson.
Maleate nce vxlocs dee qe teas . G. A. J. Rothney.
Weylonr ose iis aewect .....-Major Yerbury (27/5 and 13/6/90 ¢ ¢ ).
Mr. Ferguson writes : ‘‘ Nest in blister of leaf,” but he sent no ¢,
so it may not have been a true nest. Mr. Rothney describes the
nest as “formed by binding together a couple of leaves with a few
“ silky threads; contains only a few individuals, a rare species.”
While Mr. Aitken says: ‘ Nest a shell of brown paper on the under-
“ side of a leaf with three or four orifices.”” Finally, Major Yerbury
records “ several small nests on a tree in Peradeniya Gardens
“ (27-5-91) ; smaller nests in middle of underside of leaf—larger,
“ two leaves joined together overlapping about one-third of their
“ lengths ; substance of nest earthy.”
36. P. Sumatrensis (Smith).
Ataran Valley, Burma............ Major Bingham.
37. P. Mayri (Roger).
SEAN AMICORG sack inamrataceedeat guess ee H. 8. Ferguson.
Reem Eis, Burmar ..s.c.sseceses Major Bingham.
We lOM ti. ces scon dns ee NNR DE oe Major Yerbury.
38. P. proaima (Roger).
Pegu Hills, Burma ...... euseece? Major Bingham.
39. P. scissa (Roger).
WCW RM neta awh sss sascescacnouevas at Major Yerbury.
Major Yerbury sent meanest which was very small and composed
almost entirely of some spun material.
40. Polyrachis sp.
Barrack POre..;.¢..00s>- elaine va G. A. J. Rothney.
Gen. 4. Cécornyiia (Smith).
In this genus the 8, of which there is only one form, varies
little in size ; the pedicle is very long.
41. Gic. smaragdina (Fab.).
Poona Districts.
Kanara’ .2.2...0.. Saas seah ols caw EK. H. Aitken.
Salem, Madras ......0s0....:5. A. Burroughs Sharpe.
40 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
OUI LevelO ASS | HA gGoaddidagdh sibs R, Ellis.
DGAVAU COLE Weenie hasectadecet H. 8. Ferguson.
Ghana Districtst) cz .cssee 18: F. Gleadow.
Calcutta ference sae seine she G. A. J. Rothney.
Rar/Barerlla@udlie eg -sesea- es Dr. Simpson.
Kondmials)Orissamsrss. eter Jas. Taylor.
IPVUUTGIN Ace sere woh tore aalote sieyseiels seo H. Y. Watson.
Ceylon. aend sce tecsea (cee aca Major Yerbury.
This is the well-known vicious ‘ red’ ant about whom Mr. Aitken
has contributed such amusing papers to this Journal. The 8 alone
is red (and even she is said to be green in New Guinea); the @
which is much larger and stouter is pale green ; while the ¢ is very
smalland black. Sir J. Lubbock claimed for Gicophylla that she had
a rudimentary sting, but even this small endowment beyond her
fellows has been denied, and in fact does not exist. It is certain,
however, that she possesses the power of ejecting her yenom to an
extraordinary distance. When she attacks a human being she uses
her jaws, and I never heard any one maintain that that was not
enough. Smaragdina is found all over India, especially in the moister
regions. In the Dekhan she is found only on the Ghat edge, and then
only in weak communities. Her architecture has been so minutely
and exactly described by Mr. Aitken that any further reference to
it would be superfluous. Smaragdina, while fully maintaining the
formicine reputation as a cattle-keeper, is undoubtedly also largely
carnivorous. Many years ago my dog died, during the night,
alongside my bed ; in the morning his body was hidden from view
by a coating of struggling ants. While he was alive he had re-
mained unmolested, nor did they touch me, though my bed was their
main thoroughfare on the way tothe body. On one occasion I
found a bone two inches long in a nest, and to this day cannot ima-
gine how the ants got it there. I have heard Mr. Vidal, C.S., say
that he had a young hawk eagle and a young owl killed by Smarag-
dina. Mr. Aitken writes: “I think @cophylla feeds chiefly on the
‘milk’ of aphides and of butterfly larve ;” and referring to the case
of Mr. Vidal’s pets adds, ‘On the other hand, I have scarcely ever
“ found the nest of a sun-bird on this coast except on trees swarm-
“ ing with these ants.” Writing to me of this species Mr. Taylor
OUR ANTS. 41
says :—‘* About 4 years ago at Khurda I saw some leaves of somé
‘‘Jime trees curled up. On looking, I found in one leaf a large
“ green ant, entirely covered in with a web on all sides; she seemed
“to be sitting on white specks.” On further search I found a
** second in a similar position. I saw no other ants on the tree.” An
exactly similar account was sent me from Ceylon by Major Yerbury
together with the nest and ¢.* Mr. de Nicéville has recorded the fact
that this ant attends the larva of the lyceenid butterfly Lycenesthes
emolus.
Gen. 5. Prenowepis (Mayr),
The absence of ocelli in this and the next genus differentiates
them from Acantholepis ; in all three the insertion of the antenne
is at the lower (or anterior) extremity of the antennal groove.. In
Prenolepis the knot of the petiole is quadrangular or cuneiform ;
there is only one form of 8, which varies little in size. The form
of the 4 is of considerable importance in distinguishing the various
species of Prenolepis.
42, P, longicornis (Latr. ),
Poona Districts .........+. Gasp Seni (9/608 @).
POLE aeicacks apse taste kcaaseceesee Al. Pens
GH EPOMINGOS ,.cxcsacenetgcavbadeates J. A. Betham.
PIA Cot. e iss sadesinasetsacsscrensée Major Bingham,
DPUNGETDONG ..:....cccesecsecsertensssOOt. Hllis,
PPAVATICOLE: 2... ..0secescreccestnsecessble O. FerSuson,
Thana Districts ...........+. vssaeeeed. Gleadow.
Kondmals, Orissa..........0s00000...0a8. Taylor.
Wpper Burma. 2.26.08. neeerdeader de Yo Watson.
i RV LOM TLedeies’ wove ack weteadtediclcanv Major ¥ SrOUury.
Barrackpore ; Madras ...............G. A. J. Rothney.
This small, long-legged, black ant is the bungalow ant par
excellence, though it is also extremely common away from human
habitations. As the above list shows, it is found throughout India.
Herr Moens, who studied this species in Batavia, records that he
found “ asmall Blatta”’ living with it in its nest; he speaks of it as
found “ more rarely in houses ;”’ its place as ‘‘ bungalow ant ”’ being
taken by Plagtolepis longipes (Jerdon). Its senses are very acute,
and it is always the first to find any eatables left about. HE. H. A.
* Since the above was written Mr. Aitken has recorded a similar experieuce in
the pages of this Journal,
6
42 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
has a life-like notice of it in “ Tribes on my Frontier.’ My expe-
rience is that this species has no very fixed habitation. Wherever
dead: leaves and rubbish have lodged in the fork of a tree a com-
munity of longicornie will almost certainly be found; I have also
found it under stones, in cavities, &c., &c., and everywhere it was
ready to move offto a new site, bag and baggage (or, to speak more
correctly, ‘larveo and pupz’) on the smallest provocation. I have
seen'a whole community start off thus, deserting the nest, on the
appreach of an army of Ai/nictus, news of which had no doubt been
brought in by scouts. At Sholapore, I found it specially affecting,
as a nesting place, crevices in the masonry plinths of bungalows ;
in such positions the entrance to the nest was always strewn with
spoils of Camponotus; whether these represented dead carcases
brought home for food, or whether Camponotus had been attacked
and killed, I could never discover. As EH. H. A. states, longicornis
is certainly largely carniverous, at any rate, when sharing a bun-
galow with humans; but she also undoubtedly goes in for dairy
produce when available. Mr. de Niceville records her as attending
larvee of Catochrysops pandava (Hors.) She is too nervous and
flighty, however, to make a good dairy farmer, and to me has always
represented the “ gipsy type ”’ in the ant world.
43. P. clandestina (Mayr).
Poona Districts
Coonoor, Madras..........0.00s+ ....R. W. Daly,
Ceylon ....51..sceeaseves cesses -eoss0ee Major Yerbury:
Calcutta; Colombo ..................G. A: J. Rothney,
I found several nests, all under stones, each containing an apte-
rous @ ; the communities were all small ones. Clandestina is much
stouter and less active in her movements than her cousin longicornis.
Mr. de Nicéville records this species as tending larvee of Polyom-
matus boeticus (Lin.).
Note.—I have taken two other speciesin the Poona Districts
and have received several more, viz. :—
(1) Mt. Abu.......-........0...1. Gleadow.
(2))> Burma ereseecnec lacs: srecerelen You Watsons
(3) ;Ceylont en sucncocs. a. vee... Major Yerbury.
(4) Coylon.......c.eceeeeeeeeeesMajor Yerbury. —
OUR ANTS. - . 43
But their definite identification has not yet been completed mainly
owing to the ¢ form not having been taken.
Gen. 6. Acroryoa (Roger).
Very like the next, but abdomen is pomted and general shape
squatter.
44. <A. acutiventris (Roger).
Poona Jistricts.
Wey lOU .ocscenssnceess Mieednates ..-eeMajor Yerbury.
I took a single 9 on the dinner table, but have never come
across the 3.
Gen. 7. Psaciongers (Mayr).
This and the next genus are easily distinguished by their 11
jointed antenne, from Prenolepis whose antenne are 12 jointed (this
of course refers tothe %); moreover, in Plagiolepis, the knot is
“flat and rounded above. ”’
45. Pl. longipes (Jerdon).
RAB AEAY sAece ick sess daseanet'e corer. H. Aitken
Moulmain, Burma .....cesceree Major Bingham.
PEAMUICOLG) cov neeaeys-scnscnare ...H. S. Ferguson.
Colombo; Calcutta...............G A. J. Rothney.
Founghoo, Burma..........s0seece K. Y. Watson.
Ceylon ..... ai gunasbhindas isd cetanaan Major Yerbury.
This is a yellow ant.. Ihave never seen it in the Dekhan, but it
is common enough in Bombay, and I have taken it in Bassein Fort.
Mr. Aitken has furnished me with the following note :—‘ The habits
of Pl. longipes are exactly the same as those of Pr. longicornis.
Both species seem to be alike in being unable to ‘ gnaw,’ hence
their food must be carried home entire. If it is a corpse, they
muster a party and bear it away ; ifitis anything sweet, they suck
it and take away the juice in their stomachs, which are capable of
** being distended like toy balloons. In Kanara this species com-
pletely displaces Prenolepis as the house ant. Its nest is in holes
in the wall, or roof, or under the foundations, in a box full of old
bears’ and hyzenas’ skulls, or in fact anywhere. It steals no
farinaceous food, but carries off all portable sweet stuffs, and dead,
or dying, animal food of any kind, It wanders about the plants in
44. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
€ the garden sucking glands, Aphides and the larvee of Lycenide.
“ There is a large nest in the house which I examine regularly;
‘* queens have been out for two months, remaining in the nest and
«« dropping their wings.” Mr. Aitken also sent me some specimens
of a cricket which he found living in the nest with F/agiolepis.
These I sent to Herr Wasmann of Vienna for identification. As he
has most kindly permitted me to make use of his reply, I cannot
do better than record here an extract from his letter. ‘The
“© myrmecophilous cricket is a Myrmecophila, very near to Myrm.
<< acervorum (Panz.), perhaps even identical with it. The torsos,
“legs, and antenne of the 5 specimens seem to belong too
“of a Myrmecophiia, because the sexual organs are not
“‘ developed, atleast no female ovipositor is to be seen. Male
“ of Myrmecophila seem to be still quite unknown. ‘The sup-
“ posed ¢ of Myrm. acervorum, described in Burmeister’s ‘Hand-
‘6 buch der Entomologie’ seems to have been the larva of a 9.
‘“‘ I myself am now not quite sure, whether the ¢ of Myrm. salamonis,
‘< described in my ‘ Ameisengaste von Tunisien,’ is indeed a ¢ not
<“‘ a larva; possibly it may belong asa ¢ ora larva to Wyrm. ochracea
« (Fish.), the ¢ of which is still unknown. According to the recent
‘¢ essays of Brunner no $ of any Myrmecophila has yet been described ;
“¢ the reason of this is that the ¢ cannot be distinguished exteriorly
‘ from the 9 larve. These are the difficulties in connection with
‘¢ Myrmecophila which prevent the deseription of supposed new
‘‘ species, unless the specimens are evidently 9 adults. If Mr.
‘© Aitken can find the adult 9 of Myrmecophila with Pl. longipes or
“¢ with larger ants living in the neighbourhood, the question, whether
“ this Myrmecophila is identical with acervorwm or new, can be set-
« tled. It must be noticed that the larva of Myrmecophila sometimes
“¢ lives with small ants and the imago with larger ones. I found last
«¢ May (1891), near Mariaschein, in Bohemia, a very small Mfyrmeco-
«© phila (larva or ¢) in the nest of Tetramortum cespitum, in the
“‘ vicinity of a nest of Formica sanguinea (with slaves, fusca) which
“© contained a considerable number of Myrmecophila 2 adults and one
‘‘ nearly adult larva (or d). The larvee living in the nest of Tetra
© moriwm must have been those of M. acervorum, for that is the only
“ species of Myrmecophilu found in Northern and Central Kurope.
OUR ANTS. 45
‘* On the habits of Myrmecophila acervorum and her relation to the
“‘ ants, | made observations for several months at Prag, by means of
artificial nests. Acervorum is amicably tolerated by the ants; but
neither fed nor licked by them, as is the case with Claviger, Lome-
‘‘ chusa, Atemeles, and other ‘genuine’ guests. I have often
** observed her cleansing the abdomen of an ant, who seemed to be
‘< pleased by this treatment just as if it came from anant. Probably
the nourishment of Myrmecophila consists of the excreta of the
ants, or of the Hypopus parasites adhering to the ants.”
46, Pl. Jerdoni (Forel in MS).
Poona Districts.
TEAMAPA oboe sie sastcacesccsensecstasesdhe rie Aitken
A very minute species. I found it in February, 1890; a great
number of 8 were swarming up and down a tree, which was not in
flower, and on which the leaf buds were just opening ; the descend-
ing ants were returning ‘filled,’ so that there was evidently a
source of food-supply at the top of the tree, but whether cattle or
glands I failed to discover.
47. Pl. ewigua (Forel in MS.)
Poona Districts.
CMAP Aas cays cencanesvsenseareguoaientls EL. AIDEN:
Also a very minute species. It is not uncommon in the Dekhan ;
the nest is usually under a stone lying on damp ground; I found
most nests below the embankments of the Nira Canal, or on the
boundaries of irrigated fields. I have never seen specimens outside
the nest, nor obtained much insight into their manners and
customs, I noted, however, the extraordinarily large number of
apterous 9 to be found in the nests; in some cases they were
almost as numerous as the 3, and this, especially, in the stronger
communities.
Gen. 8. AcantHotEris (Mayr).
The presence of ocelli in ¥ of this genus has already been noted ;
they are also furnished with a pair of spines on the metathorax and
another on the node of the pedicle.
46 JGURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL, HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
48. Ac. Frauenfeldi (Mayr).
Mt. Abu, Rajpootana ...............!. Gleadow.
Rai Bareilli, Oudh .........0.......Dr. Simpson.
Calcutta ...... sseseccesee-G.. A. J. Rothney (2 varieties).
49. Ac. Frauenfeldt (Mayr) vace: bipartita (Smith).
Poona Districts
Thana Districts .......0.-..see0-f. Gleadow.
‘€. Provinces ...... dsedestosvarsscesJ. A. Botham.
Dharmsala, Punjab .........-0.+0... Major Sage.
This is a\very common ant in the Dekhan, and seems. to be dis-
tributed without much variation all over India; it is met in the
same, or almost the same, form, in Egypt, and along the shores of
the Mediterranean. The thorax is very narrow, which makes the
abdomen look disproportionately large, this latter has a silky look,
which takes away from its jet-black colour; the thorax is reddish.
It is usually found in large communities, under stones, without any
underground nest to speak of. There is always a large number of
fertile 9, I have counted as many as 20); they are.curiously banded
with black. Though not quite so unsettled as Pr. longicornis,
they do not seem to be strongly attached ‘to their home, and change
their quarters on small provocation. In this species I have-seen the.
nearest, and indeed the only, approach to the harvesting of the
Myrmicide ; though the harvesting was of the most rudimentary
character, it is curious to note that this nest was abnormally placed
in a burrow in the open.
50. Ac. Capensis (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
Mussoori, N.-W. P....cccecsesesesoe..t A. J. Rothney.
I found only a few stray individuals and failed to trace the nest.
51. Ac. opaca (Forel in MS.)
Poona Districts..........0.
Goaetrenkc cscs Sowattnes weoeee E. H. Aitken.
Gen. 9. Formica (Lin.).
This genus has the second, third, fourth, and fifth joints of the
antennz as long, or longer, than any of the succeeding ones (except
OUR ANTS. 47
the last); the knot is large and vertical; the ocelli are distinctly
visible. Formica, in India, is, I believe, exclusively limited to the
Himalayan region.
52. F. fusca (Lin.).
Kashtits..:.:-...0<1a cnuapaes Hi. Littledale.
Tahoul ...1<...... sosccssessesdajor Sage.
Mr. Littledale of Baroda sent me, with the specimens of this ant, the
following note :—“ May 4th, 1890. Took a nest of small black ants
“an Ruppell Nala, on the south side of Nanga Parbut, at 12,500
feet elevation, on a slope above the second glacier. The bigger
“ ants (i. ey § major) bit severely. Nanga Parbut is an immense
‘mountain 26,629 feet high. These ants are common onit. The
place where I got the ants was only cleared of its winter snow
‘‘two days ago, and the ants, the smaller ones espetially, were
“running all over the stones, and round the nest.” This is the
species which in Europe is so commonly kept as slaves by its
cousin #. sanguinea.
53. F. sanguinea (Latr.).
54. F. fusco=gagates (Forel.).
55. FF. gagates (Latr.).
56. F. rufibarbis (Fab.).
57. F. rufibarbis (Fab.), race clara: (Forel).
58. £. truncicola (Nyl.).
These seven species (only a @ of truncicola) were taken by
Major Sage during a couple of months’ holiday trip to Lahoul;
they are all European forms.
Gen. 10. Myruec cystus (Wesmael).
The parallel frontal ridges, and compressed abdomen, distinguish
this genus from Formica,
59. M. viaticus (Fab.).
Benares ; Allahabad; Agra ;
Delhi; Lahore ; iene y| G. A. J. Rothney.
Rai Bareilli, Oudh.............00. ..Dr. Simpson.
Mr. Rothney notes: ‘* Winged sexes in May from Tirhoot; the
* nearest point to Calcutta that I have taken this ant is Assensole,
“where, when the train stops, it may be seen marching about the
48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
« platform; it is not to be found so low down as Burdwan, and I
“have not found it at Lucknow. The late Frederick Smith
« suspected this ant of practising slavery; but, though it certainly
“does send out scouting parties, of twenty or so strong, which
‘cover the ground at the double, I have never detected any
‘ evidence of slavery.” This form is found unchanged in Europe
and on the African coast of the Mediterranean.
B. DOLICHODERIDAI,
In this group the cloacal orifice is large, linear, transverse
inferior, and non-ciliate. Seen from above, only 4 segments of the
abdomen are visible, the last is hidden from view below the
penultimate. .
Gen. 11. TecHnomyrmex (Mayr).
In this genus the apical segment of the abdomen can be seen
looking from above ; it is the only exception te the rule.
60. Tech. albipes (Smith).
Poona Districts.
(ChaeiMsseasqaagnssosdequecda ».... Major Yerbury.
have only met this species once, viz., at Khandala. It was
swarming up and down a tree, to and from some food at the top;
what this food was I could not discover.
61. Tech. bruneipes (Mayr).
Coonoor, Madras...............k, W. Daly.
Ceylon.....s....0000. nagesadsonde® ..Major Yerbury.
Gen. 12. Boruriomyruex (Emery).
The knot is thin and distinctly inclined forward ; the first seement
of the abdomen is slightly produced towards the petiole— 38 ¢ ¢
are all the same size.
62. Both. Wroughtoni (Forel in MS.).
Poona Districts.
I have only found this microscopic species once, the nest was in a
gall on a leaf of Karanj (Pongamia glabra) ; there were more than a
score of individuals in the community, yet the gall was scarcely as
large as a pea.
OUR ANTS. 49
63. Both. meridionalis.
Poonz. Districts: ..:......sedacstecs: (6-12-91 $ ¢).
Coonoor Madras: isevstelesaesn tenes Los WV «)) Daly,
This species, though sensibly larger than the last, is also very
minute, I have taken it several times and it would not seem to be
a rare species. On the 12th December, 1891, under a stone, I found
a large community, including an immense number of 2 and ¢.
On removing the stone a strong smell of roses was emitted, but
so mixed with formic acid that, leaning over the nest, I was nearly
blinded, and had to pause several times, in the work of collecting
specimens, to dry my streaming eyes. The rose smell disappeared
from my hands very quickly, leaving only a pungent, acrid odour
which it required considerable washing to remove.
Gen. 13. Intpomyrmex (Mayr).
The antenne are very slightly clavate, and are only very little
thicker at the apex than at the base; excluding the scape, the
second joint is the longest, and the following ones decrease in length
up to the penultimate, than which the terminal joint is rather longer.
The 3 andd are of the same size, the 2 is much larger.
64. Irid. glaber (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
ee Aste do. ac'aca dens ceacess T. R. D. Bell.
T only once took two straying specimens; but Mr, Bell sent me
a whole community, including Qand¢ .
65. rid. excisus (Mayr).
Benares ; Calcutta ......scecesrerees G. A. J. Rothney.
WMuadmiajs, OTiG8a, ...snccescectesese Jas. Taylor.
Miyineydn, BUI) socccccec tees sone K. Y. Watson.
Gen. 14, Taprnoma (Foerster).
The knot is flat and quadrangular; the abdomen much widened
anteriorly and covering the petiole by its prolongation forward.
The Qand¢ are of the same size, and only slightly larger than the 3.
66. Tap. melanocephalum (Fabr.),
Poona, Districts..........0... sa ekaee (11-35-90 ).
TSOATS veccuevecteaeun ee G2 wens HK. H. Aitken.
7
50 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
JT yIE RGedqosnaaoosaKn ee aoe sate F. Gleadow.
Orissa se ac eeerhincnetten: Gaeeeias ....Jdas, Taylor.
Covlon cc eeirsupe ms hecsen see nceees Major Yerbury.
Caleutta ............ eeianeel petensamesee G, A. J. Rothney.
This is a minute species, but is very easily recognised by the
characteristic black head, which, even to the naked eye, contrasts
strongly with the almost colourless, semi-transparent abdomen. It
is very common in the Dekhan, and may be found, in ascending and
descending lines, on almost every flowering tree; it is specially fond
of the Waras (Bignonia quadrilocularis). On one occasion I foand
a number of 8 visiting temporary chambers (they were certainly
not permanent nests) underground, at the roots of grass plants ;
and I found also aphides on the grass roots in these chambers.
Mr. de Nicéville records it as tending the larvae of Zrzera lysimon
(Hubner), and Polyommatus beticus (Lin.). Mr. Aitken notes that
when this ant is crushed it emits a very offensive odour.’? The
nest, which is usually under a stone, when uncovered, gives out a
strong odour rendered pungent by the admixture of formic acid.
67. Tap. minutum (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
A very minute species. I found a community in a gall on the
Saundar (Prosopis spicigera).
Gen. 15. DoticHopsrus (Lin).
Metanotum cubic, armed with two ‘teeth ’ at the posterior corners
of the dorsal surface; knot thick, cuneiform, strongly inclined
forward.
68. Dol. bituberculatus (Mayr).
Mergui, Burma........... ssesseeseeseeee Major Bingham.
69. Dol. sulcaticeps (Mayr).
BURMA 1c... aisle sistecistorsennaiete scisisstaiater Major Bingham.
Major Bingham writes: ‘‘ I found this species, in evergreen forest
* walking ina long chain, from a hole at the foot of a tree to a
** bush near by, on which were a mass of white aphides. I caught
“specimen after specimen, with my fingers, and found that they
*‘ emitted a strong smell of tube-roses, which hung abont my fingers
for the whole day.” ie.
OUR ANTS. 51
70. Dol. Fee (Emery).
Salween Hills (3,000 ft.), Burma........, Major Bingham.
71. Dol. Fee (Emery) race: fuscus (Emery).
Salween Hills (3,000 ft.), Burma.......... .-Major Bingham.
72. Dol. gracilipes (Mayr).
BOMbSY ...lisescsetasectaveseee H. H. Aitken.
aleibtact oe int. akshaesaces G, A. J. Rothney (20-7-85 $).
A nest was sent me by Mr. Aitken in 1885. They seem to depend
for food on the white woolly ‘coccus’ (?) so common in the Konkan ;
where this occurs they draw the leaves together and form a ‘ nest.’
PONERIDAL.
Gen. 16. Oponromacuus (Lin.).
The extraordinary, bent, three-pronged jaws differentiate this and
the following genus so clearly from all other Poneride that it has
been proposed to promote them to a sub-family of their own. In
Odontomachus the knot is armed with a spine at its apex.
73. Od. rtiwosus (Smith).
Tavoy Plateau (4,000 ft.), Burma......... Major Bingham.
74. Od. hematodes (Lin.).
MIVAW eS BIEOEC to cicuiaech atndacanmuely ated naiu> oveds H. S. Ferguson.
WeMieelcacensdsacnvacs dated asetccddencasdaseet Major Yerbury.
Madras) Colombo /2:/6: seesves. ttcncenn base G. A. J. Rothney.
I asked Mr. Ferguson as to the jumping powers of Odontomachus
and he wrote: “ I got some of those which you said were supposed
“to jump. I don’t think they do, but they can shoot themselves
“backwards by bending their heads, pressing their mandibles against
“any firm support, and then bringing them together with a click.
“T tried them several times, and found that if held by a prelimb,
‘* they always release themselves in this way, using the imprisoned
“limb as a fulcrum for the mandibles to work against.”
Gen. 17. Awnocuertus (Mayr).
In Anochetus the knot is unarmed. Both these genera are said
to be able to jump.
a2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
75. An. punctiventris (Mayr).
Calcutta; Nuddea, Bengal......... G. A. J. Rothney (type).
76. An. punctiventris (Mayr) race: Punensis (Forel in MS.)
Poona Districts.
This is probably the Dekhan form. At a first glance it resem-
bles a Cremastogaster, and I must confess I collected it as such, on
the only occasion on which I met it. I did not notice its jumping
powers, but, looking back, with knowledge gained too late, I have
more than a strong suspicion that it used those powers; that, at any
rate, is the only explanation which occurs to me of the marvellous
way in which the crowd of individuals, from among which I was
collecting specimens, seemed to melt away, before I had got half as
many as I required.
77. An. Sedilottii (Emery) race: Indzcus (Forel in MS.)
Poona District 19-6-90 $ ).
I found my first nest in June, 1890 ; it contained a winged @.
The &% were engaged in long foraging rambles, from which each
returned laden with a Lepisma, about her own length (say $ an
inch) carried in the way so characteristic of the Indian Poneride.
The Lepisma was in no case dead, or apparently injured, so that the
reason for its capture is doubtful. I could find none in the nest
when I dug it up, but asI had to perform this operation with a
penknife I may easily have overlooked them even had they been
there. However, I have since seen Jndicus bringing home termites
in the same way, so that I fear the rape of Lepisma was due to no
more romantic cause thanhunger. I have tried every means I could
think of to make this species jump, but in vain. On one occasion only
one crawled on the forceps I was using and threw itself off. Asa
jump it was a most insignificant performance, nevertheless it was
distinctly something more than a fall. Since receiving Mr. Fergu-
son’s interesting note on the jumping of O. hematodes, however,
I have succeeded easily in making Anochetus ‘spring’ in much the
same way; the species is too small to enable the modus saltandt to
be distinctly seen, but the action is distinctly that of a ‘skip-jack’
beetle and not that of a grasshopper. :
OUR ANTS. 53
78 An. Taylori (Forel in M §.)
Reondmiats: (OCISSa.. .s.cc.sesceemetss Jas. Taylor (type).
Writing ofits jumping powers, Mr. Taylorsays :—“I do not believe
* this ant can jump. When held a short distance from any object
“upon which she wished to get, she could not do so unless her
““ front legs could reach, but fell to the ground in the attempt. I
*‘ tried over and over again with several specimens, always with the
“ same result,”
79. An. Yerburyi (Forel in MS.)
Rees orp csc nenuiee ccnlarnelaitns Major Yerbury (type).
Gen. 18. OponToPponERA (Mayr).
Knot compressed posteriorly ; pro- and mesonotum ‘toothed’ ;
claws simple; second and third joints of antennze equal.
80. Odont. denticulata.
Myingyan, Burma..,.........00. H. Y. Watson.
Gen. 19. BorHroponera ( Mayr.)
Knot cubico-globular ; claws sunple; second and third segments
of antenne sub-equal, last twice as long as the penultimate.
81. B. sulcata (Mayr).
Poona: District:...%. 0. ice.denes (6-11-89 3).
PEANADR Ce idoth sale hitwdroedseite is H. H. Aitken.
Salem, Madras ........0-c00 A. Burroughs Sharpe.
PPA WANICOTS Uss..c3s otcsvac slate. H. 8. Ferguson.
DhanaWistricts. .......%..aevel F. Gleadow.
Kondmals, Orissa ............Jas. Taylor.
MAGTAS 4.4.4. .taidetinasias oa autwae's G. A. J. Rothney.
This is a very common species. The nest is always under astone,
but usually reaches a considerable depth underground. Solitrry
individuals may constantly be found roaming apparently aimlessly
among the grass, or carrying home prey (a dead beetle or what not)
in the usual ponerine way. Their sense of locality seems feeble,
and they behave exactly as libellously predicated of ants in general
by Mark Twain. The probable explanation is that the Poneride are
normally nocturnal in their habits; the best provided have fewer
facets in their eyes than other ants, while the 3 of some European
54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
species, at any rate, are known to be blind. ‘Their sting is most
powerful and quite as painful as that of a bee or wasp.
82. B. tesserinoda (Mayr).
IRETENBbsoqc00000505 Ser SESOAC oe-ce.eelu; H. Aitken.
Orissaje svedsecce aggnanen Aonoanagogosad a Sond bany oie.
Calcutta ....... ieee Fileleieh Meveatenee ..G. A. J. Rothney.
83. B. rubiginosa (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
I found a large community near Lanowli, but failed to reach the
tiain chamber of the nest, which was very deep down underground.
I saw no individuals outside the nest. This is a transition species
and might perhaps be better classed with Ponera.
84. B. luteipes (Mayr).
Coonoor, Miadrasi nc jsscseeee-serernst R. W. Daly.
Dhanmsalawoumyalbpeceesteseclecees Capt. Fulton.
Mussoori, N-W.P. ....c0.0e-00-4....G A. J. Rothney.
85. B. rufipes (Jerdon).
Kamara eccnes: EES SUN E. H. Aitken; G. D. Bell.
[STURT Gong scodenngsond wae serve Major Bingham; EH. Y. Watson.
Orissa orsensccee sites eeiienuse Jas. Taylor.
I have never seen this species in the Dekhan. ‘The specimens
gent me have only been one, or, at most, two at a time, whence I
conclude that it is solitary in its foraging, like sulcata. Major Bing-
ham notes: “Blows a whitish, acrid smelling, rather gelatinous froth
‘when seized;’’ and this is confirmed by Mr. Taylor, who writes :
«¢‘ When irritated exudes a milky substance of a frothy nature which
“hardens on exposure to the air and resembles fine cotton ; it is
« called ‘domona chunti’ or ‘gendu,’ the ‘domonas’ being the weaver
“ caste in Orissa.”
Gen. 20. Diacamma (Mayr).
Knot almost spherical, flat behind, bidentate; claws simple,
second joint of antennze twice as long as the third.
86. D. vagans (Smith). 5
Pegu, Burma....... goagsoctieoocde Major Bingham.
Calcnttatge tad racse-neeseener G. A. J. Rothney.
Mr. Rothney in his paper on Indian Ants, reprinted in this Journal,
OUR ANTS. 55
writes very fully of this species. He declares it to be, viewed
individually, the most intelligent of all the ants.
87. D. scalpratum (Smith).
Tenasserim....... Se aceaenlcaeecent Major Bingham.
Major Bingham describes it as ‘very common; makes a big
ant heap in paddy fields ; stings and bites virulently.”
88. Diacamma sp.
Dba VAMCOTC?careiashens keatsies H. 8. Ferguson.
The identity of this species has not yet been definitely settled ;
but it is believed to be undescribed.
89, D. versicolor (Smith).
PRAPACK OPC cyvecewcaptesnant ee G. A. J. Rothney.
Gen. 21. Ponsra (Lin.).
Knot transverse, vertical, unarmed ; claws simple; second joint
of antenne longer than the third.
90. P. Jerdoni (Forel in M §.).
Poona Districts.
Walembta.03 2k 53sec ee seres oo--seeeGte A. J. Rothney.
The only nest of this species I have ever found was under a stone
and very shallow, the main chamber being barely three inches
below the surface.
91. P. Gleadowi (Forel in MS.).
Poona Districts.
This is not an uncommon species in the Dekhan, but owing to
its small size and sluggish movements, is easily overlooked. I have
found it several times, always under stones on very moist ground.
Mr. Aitken sent me a variety from Kanara.
92, P. truncata (Smith).
PGMA a eniwdar uaeaowectsacexnep aes G. A. J. Rothney.
Gen. 22. Harpecnatuus (Jerdon).
The monstrous mandibles of this genus render it recognizable at
a glance from any other ant. Whatever doubts there may be, as
to the jumping powers of Odontomachus and Anochetus, I, at least,
have none, as to those of Harpegnathus. The single specimen of the
genus, which f have had the luck to find, made leaps of a foot or
18 inches with perfect ease, exactly like a grasshopper. I had
56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
much trouble in securing this specimen, and, when I succeeded, I
found she could sting better than she could jump.
93. H. cruentatus (Smith).
Poona Ghats.
Canarias Sa nccnetiaec eee aeahee ths H.-G. Palliser,
Orissa cone teers de tenen omeeeene Jas. Taylor.
In each case a single specimen only was taken. There is also a
specimen in the Society’s Collection labelled Matheran. H. cruentatus
is nearly an inch long with very long legs.
Gen. 23. Lozopstta (Mayr).
Tarsal claws pectinate.
94, L, distinguenda (Emery).
Poona Districts.
Rariaita ss akigcsncm tncecserearssewartestecs tans EK. H.. Aitken.
(ra van COnei a Wicwe.u neater leciece o:e-H. S. Ferguson.
Onissaneeeees! wie wteunee eck manananG .....das, Taylor.
Ceylon awe ccco erence siieoweceeses Major Yerbury.
Calcubta iste ale anaese ole ceeneee G. A. J. Rothney.
This species is fairly common from Poona westwards to the Ghats.
The idea of a disciplined army has been fairly developed in this
genus. LF. distinguenda may sometimes, it is true, be found loafing
about singly, but these individuals are probably only scouts;
ordinarily, she is only met, in the early morning or late in the
afternoon, travelling in an unbroken column 4 to 6 or 8 abreast,
straight, or rather by the easiest road, to the scene of operations.
This is usually a colony of white ants whose galleries have been
broken open by the hoof of a passing beast, or some similar accident:
Arrived at destination, each 8 seizes her termite prey, tucks it under
her thorax in the orthodox ponerine fashion, and the column then
returns (but marching ‘at ease’ and much less regularly than on
the outward journey) to the nest. I have never succeeded in
finding a nest; on one occasion I tracked a column for more than 50
paces, only to lose it in a patch of prickly pear. I do not think that
L, distinguenda, any more than any other ant, ever has the inspiration
to open a termite gallery for herself; on the occasion mentioned
above, the column passed close to several, and even over one colony -
of white ants before reaching its destination I believe, however, I
OUR ANTS. 57
sawa % break open a piece of tunnel, into which a termite had
retreated, but cannot be sure, and the practice certainly was not
general. Nor are the termites followed into the galleries, partly,
perhaps, because the passage is too small for a Lobopelta, but equally,
I imagine, because such a measure would be very like ‘ drawing’
a badger ‘ouly more so.’ Mr. Aitken tells me he has seen “hundreds
going into a hole in the ground and emerging with white ants,” but
this is very different from entering a termite gallery.
95. L. Chinensis (Mayr).
Poona Districts (18/10/90 3).
PGRN SUA ca cadensaceserniyens ccewe’ EK. H. Aitken.
Heliited 2s OU Coa cacao vnijides eons ...0F'. Gleadow.
AC WGHE. 2s s0s0caciearsehent sas .....G. A.J. Rothney.
GUPISSAy anneal -jonesnecieedanvar-oors. das, sbavlor., (2/9/90, ¢ ),
This species is even commoner than the last. Déstinguenda would
seem to be a denizen of forests, while Chinensis prefers more open
and inhabited country. I have only once seen Chinensis on the
war-path, and then the objective, a large worm, in several pieces,
had been reached, and the column was on its way home. The
column I must say was more a mob than a disciplined army,
but this may have been due to the fact, that the normal irregularity
of the homeward march was enhanced by the size and shape of the
booty, which did not admit of its being carried ‘ according to the
regulations.’ On the other hand, I have often, during the early
part of the rains, witnessed a migration (or was it a colonization,
in no case was a 2, even apterous, present?), when the discipline
and regularity of the column left nothing to be desired. My ex-
perience seems to show that Chinensis prefers a formation in fours,
at any rate when carrying her own larve and pupe. Mr. Aitken
has furnished me with the following most interesting note on
Chinensts. ‘There is a populous community of this ant, in a hole,
“in the foundations of my house, at Goa. From the nest there is a
“well marked ‘road,’ crossing a broad gravel path, and. then
“‘ ramifying all over the tennis ground. They issue after sunset,
“ and march along one of the main branches, or break up into par-
“‘ ties and take different routes. When they come toa place where
8
58 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
<< the termites have thrown up new earthworks, and are busy eating
“the dead grass underneath, they collect in dense masses, waiting
“for an opportunity of breaking im, which they very likely find
‘‘ when the termites attempt to extend their works on any side.
« Then the slaughter begins. Sometimes the poor termites are killed
‘“‘ far faster than they can be carried off; and on one occasion, as
“ late as 7 a.m., I saw the ground still heaped with slain, and an
“unbroken stream of ants, 56 yards long, carrying them away.
“‘ Hach ant had 2 or 3 in her jaws. If these ants cross the grounds
“of a community of ‘ Harvesters ’(? Holcomyrmexz) after the latter
“are up in the morning, they have to flee in their turn. A Lobo-
« nelta, when once a ¥ major has laid hold of her by the leg, appears
“‘ to be perfectly helpless; she can neither kill her enemy, nor shake
“ her off. Sometimes another Lobopelta will come to her assistance,
“‘ and, after vainly trying to tear off the aggressor, will pick up her
“ comrade and carry her, and her enemy, off together.”
96. L. diminuta (Mayr).
IIs AMO inosas ode sosoceceoeassdosac F. Gleadow (Christmas’ 90 ¢ ).
(CIECINGOW pags st sjoabeongons tian R. W. Daly.
A@ammamar) eiceice cele «aisle seacesas H. G. Palliser.
Walleutita weees.cecree eens syonsooess G. A. J. Rothney.
(ONPISISA) su gaggnagoosaubocdaboncnoqosO: Jas. Taylor.
Tounghoo, Burma .......6...06.. H. Y. Watson.
(Olea sondcesedo99005c8850 so0abo9bc Major Yerbury.
Ataran Valley, Tenasserim ...Major Bingham.
The specimens from Tounghoo and Tenasserim vary slightly
from the type.
97. L. dentilobts (Forel in MS.).
Coonoor, Madras ............:.....R. W. Daly.
98. DL. Yerbury (Forel in MS.).
Hot Wells, Trincomalee.........Major Yerbury.
99, L. pwnetiventris (Mayr).
@aleuttarsssyeen cee: dese ssayaeuar G. A. J. Rothney (type).
100. L. Kittel (Mayr).
(OPIIGIBET 2 \46,50.stiac nxogo00edocca9008. Modem SWie louse
OUR ANTS. 59
Gen. 24. Lioponnra (Mayr).
The joints of the antennes (except the scape) very short ; thicker
than long.
101. L. longitarsus (Mayr).
Poona Districts. ¢.
Thana Districts ¢.
Calcutta; Nuddea..........00 wereeG. A. J. Rothney & (type).
GIA iire a a dgaceles -.sciey ys ckeepa ad ahem eeey lon. Si O:
The ¢ comes freely to alight, at night; all through the rains, I
have never taken the 3. F
Gen. 25. AmBiyorone (Erichson).
The knot soldered to the abdomen along its whole depth.
102. Amblyopone sp.
Poona Districts ¢.
This species comes freely to a light ; but I have not been able to
obtain the 3.
103. Amblyopone sp.
PARR EAN ES ig ada seoveconeanesas T. R. D. Bell.
Mr. Bell sent me some specimens of what will probably prove a
new species ; but its identity is not yet definitely settled.
INDEX TO PLATES.
PLATE A.
1. Paussus sp.: Beetle found in nest of Ph: Wroughtoni x 9.
2. Dulichius sp. : mimics Polyrachis X 9.
3. Do. side view of thorax.
4. Do. do. of abdomen.
5. Do. Antenna.
6. Camp. compressus (Fab.) % minor X 9.
< Do. % maj., profile.
8. De. % min., antenna.
9. Do. ¥ maj., head X 9.
10. Pal. spinigera (Mayr.) oe. 9:
1]. Do. profile.
12. Do. head.
13. Do. antenna.
14. Pren. longicornis (Latr.) 8 x 9.
60
a
oh rH S
22.
23,
24,
20.
26.
Soo Nee: Sih res) ht
JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, i892.
Pren. longcornis, antenna x 18.3
Do. head x 18.
Acanth, Frauenfeldi (Mayr) r. bipartita (Smith) 3 x 9.
Downs. do. profile.
Do. do. antenna X 18.
Tap. Melanocephalum (Feb.) 3 18.
PLATE -B.
Geoph. smaragdina (Fab.) 8 & 9.
Do. profile.
Do. antenna 18.
Tech. albipes (Smith) & xX 9.
Do.
Do. head xX 18.
Bothroponera rubigonosa (Mayr), 3 xX 9.
Do.
Do. Part of leg and tarsal claws x 18.
Do. antenna < 18.
Ponera Gleadowi (Forel in MS.) ¥ X 9.
Do.
Do. heady ules
Do. antenna X 18.
Llobopelta Chinensis (Mayr) & 9:
Do. antenna.
Do. node of pedicle from above,
Do. head do.
Do. part of leg and tarsal claws.
Anoch. Sedillotit (Emery.) 7. Indicus (Forel) 8 x 8,
Do. do. profile.
Do. do. jaws and antenna X 10
Do. do. jaw xX 30.
Do. do. do. end view.
Harpegnathus cruentatus (Smith) 8 head x 9.
Do. do. profile.
Note.—In plate B, fig. 10, the division between segments 1 and 2 of the flagellam
has been omitted.)
(To be continued. )
61
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
BY
Sureron-Masor K. R. Korrixar, I. M.S.
(With Plates A. and B.)
( Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 5th April, 1892. )
Wuen four years ago Brigade-Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel I. B.
Lyon did me the honour of asking me to supply him with a few
concise notes on the Botanical Characters of Indian Poisonous Plants, —
which he has embodied in one of the Miscellaneous Appendices of
his deservedly successful work on Indian Medical Jurisprudence, af
thought if an independent series of accurate, well drawn, and properly
coloured illustrations were placed into the hands of persons interested
in the study of the poisonous plants of Bombay, it would be a great
help towards the ready identification of such plants. Such a series
would serve as a companion to Dr. Lyon’s work, which is now exten-
sively read all over the Presidency, without attempting to rival it or
mar its usefulness. It would, moreover, I thought, enable me to add
a few useful hints regarding the plants which I could not then do
from the nature of the work assigned to me by Dr. Lyon, and from
the necessarily limited space placed by him at my disposal.
Having been engaged for some years past in getting up the illustra-
tions of some of the most typical and useful forest and garden plants
commonly seen in and around Bombay and Thana, and happening
to have in my possession the illustrations of some of our poisonous
plants drawn at my request and under my personal supervision by
Mr. Isaac Benjamin, I broached the subject of publishing some of
them in the Society’s Journal to our energetic Secretary, and placed
at his disposal my illustrations, offering at the same time to write the
letter-press. Mr. Phipson, with the promptness which marks every-
thing he does, whether in connection with the Natural History
Society or any other Institution, at once accepted my offer, and pro-
mised to supplement my illustrations with a few more drawn by
Mr. Benjamin expressly for this series, under my supervision. My
original pictures are all of the natural size. Most of them, therefore,
have to appear as reduced copies of the original to suit the size of
the Journal. In each case, however, at the foot of each illustration a
62 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
note will be added as to what extent the natural size has been reduced.
Of Mr. Benjamin’s work, I can safely say that, apart from their
artistic finish, the specimens depicted are accurate and can be depend-
‘ed upon for the details of their botanical characteristics. They are
in every instance copied from nature in their fresh condition, and in
each case every attempt is made to secure a typical specimen as far
as available.
‘«‘What is a poisonous plant?”’—it will be asked. It is as difficult
for a Botanist to answer this question as itis for a Medico-Jurist to
define “a poison” in works on Medical Jurisprudence. Not even
does the Indian Penal Code attempt to define “a poison,” be it of
vegetable, animal, mineral, or any other origin. Beck, one of the
earliest of the standard writers on Medical Jurisprudence, quotes the
definition given by Foderé, which, as the former rightly observes, is
probably as unexceptionable as any that has yet been attempted. It
runs thus :—‘ Poisons are substances which are known by physicians
as capable of altering or destroying in a majority of cases some or
all the functions necessary to life.’ This brief definition may be
further illustrated in the words of Dr. Francis Ogston, so as to
restrict the term to “such substances as when exhibited in certain
quantities to healthy and ordinarily constituted individuals are
capable of producing injurious or fatal effects in a more or less direct
and certain way, unless where specially and specifically counteracted.”
Plants exhibiting such qualities may be looked upon as poisonous.
The poison or noxious element may consist of an alkaloid or active
principle and may exist in any or all the different parts of the organs
of nutrition, v/z.:—root, stem and leaves or their appendages, such as
hairs, glands, &c., or in the different parts of the organs of repro-
duction, viz. :—flower, fruit and seeds. Poisonous plants are more or
less speedy in their action, but they may not affect all alike or with
equal severity. Their effects vary in an individual under different
circumstances. Thus, for instance, the empty or loaded condition of
the stomach materially modifies the injurious effects of a poison. The
latter state even annihilates the toxic or irritant effects of some
poisonous plants. Habit, again, manifestly affects the deleterious
effects of poisons. The ganjah-smokers or bhang-drinkers, who
respectively indulge in their pipe of the flowering tops of Cannabis
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 63
Indica (Indian hemp) or a cold infusion of its leaves, may not suffer
anything more than a mere temporary excitement or inebriation which
may pass off without remedy, The same quantity, however, may in
the novice or uninitiate produce double-vision, profound narcosis and
even death by coma. This illustrates the popular adage that ‘what
is one man’s food may be another’s poison.” This will also explain
why I have in the present series tried to illustrate plants and include
them among the poisonous, such as have not hitherto been included
in the noxious category, nor indeed are even suspected as being
possessed of deleterious properties. ‘‘Forewarned is forearmed.”’
In describing poisonous plants, therefore, it will be my endeavour to
.embody in this series, not only such plants as have been reputed
poisonous from time immemorial, but also those which, within my
experience, have struck me as having proved deleterious sometimes to
some individuals, although used harmlessly by others.
To District Officers, and particularly to those on whom devolve the
magisterial duties of trying cases of clandestine poisoning, and to
Medical Officers on whom lies the sole responsibility of identifying
and naming the poisonous plants, and thus occasionally helping in
the cause of the administration of justice, it is to be hoped that these
illustrations may be of some use in a country, the vegetation of
which is essentially different from that of the land of their birth and
education.
I am conscious that the illustrations fall far short of what they
might be, though, as I have already said, every attempt has been
made to secure accuracy. What merit or artistic beauty they possess
is entirely due to the facile pencil of Mr. Benjamin, who has been
my valued collaborateur in my illustrations of the Bombay Flora,
Phanerogamic and Cryptogamic, and whose eye to details is as trust-
worthy as it is capable of delineating a charming copy true to nature.
No attempt is made to describe the plants according to their natu-
ral orders. Nor indeed is there any order as regards their appearance
in this Journal. The plants are depicted just as I came across them,
regardless of their virulence or severity of action on the human
frame. But each plant as it appears here will be accompanied with
a letter-press giving a detailed description of the plant, to enable
the reader to identify it.
64 JOURNAI, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Tt may perhaps be useful to explain how vegetable poisons act.
Their action is either local or remote. When they act locally as, for
instance, on the skin or stomach, they irritate the parts direct; they
are therefore called Jrritants. The irritation may or may not be
followed by inflammation. Their action in this respect is sometimes
purely mechanical as, for instance, in the irritation produced by the
rigid brown hairs covering the sigmoid rods of Mucuna prurtens
(cowhage). When poisons act remotely they do so either through
the nervous system and are hence called Neurotic; or through the heart
and are hence called Cardiac. Cardiac poisons distinctly affect the
heart in the first instance, and cause death bya sudden or gradual
failure of its action. Neurotic poisons either affect the brain or the ,
spinal cord singly, or both together. In the first case the poisons
are known as Cerebral, and produce delirium or torpor which goes
under the name of Narcotism, the poisons themselves being termed
narcotics ; in the second case, where the poisons affect the spinal cord
they are called spinal poisons. They cause increase or decrease or
total loss of sensation or motion in parts supplied by the nerves issu-
ing from the spinal cord; thirdly, when the neurotic poisons act on
the brain and spinal cord jointly they are called Cerebro-spinal
potsons. In them we find acombination of the symptoms of both
the cerebral and spinal poisons. Jam not aware of any vegetable
poison acting as what is called a Septic poison, ¢.e., producing death
by destroying the vitality of blood as isthe case in colubrine or
viperine poisoning.
STROBILANTHES CALLOSUS—(WNees.)
Maratni—KARAVI (aicat.)
(Natural Order—AcantTHACE®.)
Descriprion.—A shrub 6 to 8 feet.
Roor.—Bearing buds of the future plant, which are thickly
covered over with 8-10 stiff, tough imbricated scales, studded with
fine white wavy woolly hairs from three to four lines in length.
Srem.—Hrect, ceespitose, irregularly quadrilateral, rounded off
at the angles; grooved often deeply, throughout, thus marking off
each of the four angles of the stem; distinctly jointed like the
bamboo down to tho central pith ; joints bilaterally swollen above
the point of juncture, varying in length from a span to a span and
Journ. Bomb. Nat.Hist
isaac Benjamin del
Str
& JOA \T7 1
OOC .1OW€, VOL.V i,
THE POISONOUS PLANTS
obilanthes c vilosus. Nees
(4 Natural size)
Mintern Bros
OF BOMBAY.
ler. Acanthace
Chrom
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 65
a half. Surface of stem irregularly verrucose or “scabrous tu-
bercled,” as Clarke calls it; glabrous where there are no warts.
The whole stem tapers gradually from the root to the growing tip,
varying in thickness at the root from } to 1 inch in diameter. This
tapering is highly characteristic of this plant. The inner substance
of the stem throughout consists of close-packed white pith which
occupies over three-fourths of its diameter. The pith has an
aromatic sweetish smell, not unlike the smell ef some of the pith
containing stems of the Graminacee, The woody portion is barely
a line or two in width or thickness. The outer-bark peels off very
chin on scratching, is translucent and of buff colour in the old parts
ef the plant, purplish or pink at the growing end. The warts
do not extend to the inner bark. The inner bark, green.
Brancees.—Generally absent, but when given off, always arise at
the joints; are seldom subdivided; bearing a pair of opposite
leaves; not thicker than a goose-quill; partaking of the quadri-
lateral nature of the stem; verrucose; buff coloured when old; pink
or purplish and dewny when young and growing.
Leaves.—Decussate, arising at the joints only; 7-10 inches
long, 3-3 inches broad; crenate; scabrous and ciliated on the
apper and under surfaces; “ Elliptic-cuspidate’’—running down
into a thin leng petiole, 2-3 inches long; nerves well marked
especially on the under surface, whitish, and here and there covered
Odour faintly aromatic when the leaf
with small warts, 8-20 pair.
Feel sticky when the
is bruised,—some say strongly aromatic.
leaves are young, from the fluid contained in the hair-cells,
Sprxes.— Axillary single or in pair, bilateral; 1-4 inches long;
strobiliform. It is on account of this characteristic strobiliform ar-
rangement of the bracts that the genus derives its name Strobilanthes,
Inflorescence densely cymose. Peduncles 2-3 lines in length. Bracts
4-1 inch long, concave, glabrous, with entire margins; the lower
enes elliptical er oval, tough, green, remote from each other; the
lower ones tapering or orbicular, tender, beautifully pink, closer
packed, imbricate. The colopr of flowers, beautifully purplish-blue,
tinged with pink or rosy hue. Dalzell describes the flower as being
“deep blue.” Nees calls it ‘caerulea.’ (Vide Wallich’s Plant. Asiat.
Rarior. Part III., p. 85.) It may be noted that the cvlour of my
bs]
66 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
illustration is copied from nature, from a specimen growing in my
own garden at Thana when in full bloom and fresh. Hooker
mentions Strobilanthes purpurea as growing in Ceylon (Vide p. 183,
DeCandolle’s Prodromus, P. XI., under Strobilanthes asperrimus.)
Catyx —Persistent, } inch long; in fruit often exceeding even
an inch; deeply quinquipartite; segments or lobes often free down
to the base, oblongor acuminate, tough, covered with soft hair,
greenish or yellowish-white. Segments become tougher and stiffer
as they grow older.
Corotta.—Delicate, 14 to 2 inches long, subequally five-lobed ;
glabrous without; very hairy—sortly so —within.
Srawens,—Didynamous inserted on the corolla; filaments hairy
downwards; anther-lobes brightyellow, two=celled; included.
Pist1.—Glabrous, elevated on a scarlet or deep-yellow con-
spicuous globular disc of the size of a millet seed; style filiform,
white, slightly bifid, if at all divided.
Fruit.—A capsule two-celled, 1 inch long, § inch broad; cori-
aceous; obovate; loculicidal; valves elastically recurved, carrying
the seeds on each half of the capsule.
Sneps.—Three or four in each half of the capsule; 4 inch long,
roundish or ovoid, covered over with fine soft down.
Trsta.—Membranaceous.
The tree flowers from June to September. The specimen I
have described threw out flowersin my garden, even when very
young, from July to September. The idea that this plant flowers
only once in seven years is arural myth. The stem of the plant
is an article of domestic economy in rural and even town life.
The stem of the plantis cut down when about 6-8 feet long
for making the mud-plastered walls of our rural and town huts
and homes. It takes each stem about three years to grow to that
height, andin the forest it does not flower until fairly grown. The
impression, therefore, prevails that it only flowers once in
seven years. The factis when once the plant has flowered, ¢.e.,
has grown sutiiciently big to be cut down for economic purposes,
it is cut down and sold in the bazaars as an article of commerce.
The result is, until another plaat grows of sufficiently large size in
the same place from the same root, for-mark you, the stem is
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 67
czspitose, there are no flowers in the place for a year or two or
three which is the time necessary for the 6-8 ft. growth of the
plant. As.I have said above, the plant has flowered in my garden
in the very first year of its growth.
Remarxs.—The plant I have described is known on this side of
India—in the Konkan—as Kérav or Karavi (Marathi Ita or HITT).
In Thana it grows abundantly on the hills dividing the Thana
valley from the Vehar and Tilsi valleys. My description is from
the outgrowth of the species common here. There is some con-
fusion, unfortunately, but I believe not unnecessarily with regard
to the scientific name that should be given to the plant which goes
under the Marathi popular name of Kéravi. The Hon’ble Mr.
Justice Birdwood designates Karvi as Strobilanthes Asperrimus in
his Catalogue of Mahableshwar and Matheran plants. Brigade
Surgeon Dymock—the Prince of our living Bombay, aye, Indian
Botanists—calls it Strobilanthes ciliatus. Colonel Beddome,
another well-known name in Indian Botany, designates Karvi as
Strobilanthes grahamianus.
GRAHAMIANUS.
Now when three such eminent authorities—apparently widely
differing from each other—writers on Indian Botany well versed
in the local Flora they have respectively studied and mastered,
designate Karvi in their own special way, while I, on the other
hand, follow a defunct Professor from a distant Academy, some
apology, some words of explanation, may be deemed necessary,
and here I will tender them in all humility.
The term K4rvi to my native Indian mind is essentially expres-
sive of economy. Every plant, therefore, of the genus Strobilanthes,
whether it be Asperrimus, Ciliatus, Grahamianus, or Callosus repre-
sents a species that is known among the natives of the soil as an
economic plant, fit to build up their mud-plastered huts, and as
such is known as Kérvi. What matters it then whether a Bird-
wood calls it S. asperrimus, a Dymock calls it 8. ciliatus, a Beddome
ealls it S. Grahamianus, or I, following Nees, call it S. callosus ?
It is Kdrvi after all !—a Strobilanthes and nothing more. It would
still appear to be necessary that I should note the distinguishing
points which characterize the specimens which have been named
68 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1898.
or described by the distinguished and accurately observant
Botanists I have named—appearing as they do to differ so much,
though in iny tesimation really not differing to any material extent.
The specimen of the species I have examined is perhaps different
from the specimen the Hon’ble Mr. Justice Birdwood, or Brigade
Surgeon Dymock, or Colonel Beddome may have examined, but it
is generally and generically speaking Kdarvi or Strobilauthes all the
same. Specific differences may exist in all of them if each one is
compared with the other, and what I have chiefly to point out in
this contribution is that if the leaves of the Kérvi that I describe
as Strobilanthes Callosus have any irritant properties or poisonous
effects on the human stomach on account of its hairs or glandular
appendages, Birdwood’s Strobilanthes Asperrimus Kirwi, Dymock’s
Strobilanthes ciliatus Karvi, and Beddome’s Strobilanthes Gra-
hamianus may, if similarly carelessly used, produce similar
effects on the human body. Let me therefore prepare my reader
to note how the plant I have described differs in its minor
points from that described or named by Mr. Birdwood, Dr. Dymock
and Col. Beddome, respectively. Mr. Birdwood’s species has hirsute
joints and trichotomous petioles. The species I describe has none
of these. Dr. Dymock’s description of S. ctliatus is very much
the same as that of my S. Callosus. But the description of S.
ciliatus given by Nees in Wallich (Pt. III., Plant. Asiat. Rar., p.
85) whom Dr. Dymock cites as his authority, is slightly different from
the description given by Dr. Dymock. The plant described by
Professor Nees has “ Ram¢ supra gentcula fidroso-fimbriati,’ whereas,
Dr. Dymock’s species is “‘ branchless.’”? (Vade 2 ed., Mat. Med. of
Western India, p. 592.) The flowers in Nees’ specimen are described
as “‘longitudine bracte’? ‘Corolla lutea (?)’”?—the query Nees’
own, thus showing that Nees was doubtful as to whether the colour of
his species was really yellow. Whereas Dymock is positive about
the colour of his S. ctliatus bee not only blue but bright blue.
Leaving these three Botanists aside when I pursue this subject
still further and take up Hooker’s standard work on the Flora of
British India, another question crops up. It is this. I must hum-
bly admit, I find some difficulty—no small one—in following the
attempt made by Clarke in amalgamating Dalzell’s Strobilanthes -
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 69
Grahamianus with Strobilanthes Callosus (Nees), It must be
apparent toevery reader of Dalzell that his Strobilanthes Grahamia-
nus is essentially different from S. Callosus. For S. Grahamianus
has peltate hairs, whereas the hairs of S. Callosus are longitudinal
and tapering at the free end ina sharp point, and are composed of
2-3 longitudinal cells placed end on end. This latter I have verified
by personal microscopic examination. Again, Dalzell’s S. Graha-
mianus has trifid peduncles; the peduncles of S. Callosus are
solitary. S. Grahamianus and 8. Callosus must therefore on close
scrutiny appear to be two distinct species.
Tue Porsonous Nature or THE PLant,
With regard to the poisonous nature of the plant, the announce-
ment now made for the first time that the plant is poisonous, will,
to not a few, if not to all, come with some surprise. But it need
not be so although in the large number of the genera of the natural
order Acanthacee, there are only a few plants which are known to
haveirritant or, broadly speaking, poisonous properties. The poison-
ous quality is exhibited either in the irritant juice of its leaves
or in the irritating action of its surface-hairs. ‘Thus, for instance,
the leaves of the well known Gajakarni (maa) Rhinacanthus Com-
munis are well-known for the local irritation—often amounting to
vesication—they cause in the treatment of ringworm. It is a
favorite native remedy for ringworm in certain stages. The leaves
of Blepharis Edulis similarly, which are armed with prickles,—
(only an advanced stage of the hairs on the leaves of our S. Cal-
losus) and the stem of which is still more prickly, Dr. Dymock
says “cause redness, burning and itching ” (vide p. 593, 2nd ed.
Mat. Med. of Western India), when they come in contact with the
body. Similarly I have found that the pounded or bruised leaves of
Strobilanthes Callosus when taken internally as acold infusion have
sometimes caused irritation of the stomach and produced severe
vomiting followed by symptoms of gastritis. The inflammation of
the mucous membrane of the stomach thus produced appears to
me to be due to the mechanical irritation caused by the hairs on
the leaves. Any careless use therefore of the pounded leaves for
medicinal purposes is fraught with danger to the mucous coat of
70 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
the stomach. The infusion should be strained through fine muslin
or Hannel to get rid of the hairs before use. The fresh leaves are
occasionally used by the rural classes as a general tonic, antife-
brile and antiperiodic remedy in malarial fevers, and also as 3
stomachic stimulant and purgative. These remedial uses have the
sanction of Nighanta Ratnaikara, which serves as a guide to
many a native medical practitioner. (Vide Vol. III., Arka-Prakash,
p. 24, Bombay edition, 1864.) It was when the fresh leaves were
used for one or other of these remedial purposes that distinct
Symptoms of gastric irritation showed themselves, for the relief of
which latter the cases came under my observation. An examination
of the vomits under the microscope showed on each occasion numer-
ous hairs embedded in mucus, It is when the leaves are quite fresh
and the minute hairs stiff and erect with the liquid contents of
their cells intact, that their irritative potency is most active.
Beyond local irritation therefore limited to one organ only I do not
suppose the plant has any other poisonous action. The amount of
irritation that its leaves produce when taken in an unguarded
way will, I hope, justify my including this plant among the poison-
ous plants of Bombay.
Description or THE Ficurzs my Pirate A.
The main figure in the centre is the growing top of the plant
showing the hairs on the upper and under surface of the leaves,
and the decussate arrangement of the latter. The strobiliform
spikes with expanded flowers above and buds below..
The first figure at the bottom from the reader’s left to right is
the quinquipartite stiff calyx, two of the segments of which are
turned down to show the red disc over which the ovary 18
situated bearing the filamentous style.
The second figure is the stiffening and growing calyx as the:
ovary is maturing into fruit.
The third figure is the mature fruit—a capsule, still on the disc,.
which has changed colour.
The fourth figure is half the capsule opened out to show the
seed, which is slightly pubescent. The other half of the capsule:
has been removed.
Journ. Bomb.Nat. Hist. Soc. 189% Vol. VIE
Mintern Bros. Chromo lith. London.
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
Trichosanthes palmata. Roxb. Order. Cucurbitacee.
(ft Natural size)
Isaac Benjamin del.
PHE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. re
TRICHOSANTHES PALMATA.—(Rozb.)
, dv ‘
Marathi “Koundal” (Iga Je
(Natural order.—CucursiTactz).
Descrietion.—A large climbing perennial herb; -sometimes
twisting spirally to a marked degree; a native of forests and field
hedges, running over the highest trees at times: distinctly dicecious.
Root.—Inclined to be wavy or contorted.
Stem.—Angular or irregularly rounded; deeply fissured longi-
‘tudinally ; often as thick as a man’s arm, says Dr. Dymock, and
marked with parallel rows of small irregular warts on either side
of each fissure; noduled and jointed; each joint situated at the
distance of from 14 to 2 or 3 inches; giving off leaves or branches
at the joints only. The transverse section of a mature stem shows
that the longitudinal fissures correspond to the medullary rays and
include between each pair of them wedge-shaped woody and vas-
cular bundles, studded with round or oval intercellular canals of
pretty large size sufficient to admit an ordinary pin. Dymock
calculates these wedge-shaped portions as seven, but I have specimens
before me in which they are as many as ten. When in spring or
before the rains, the plant is resting and leafless, these intercellular
spaces contain air. But when the plant revives, and resumes its
activity In the rains, they contain sap which continues to flow
through them for some time after the rains.
THE ovTER BARE.—Is light grey or brown, warty, corky, often
presenting the appearance of crocodile skin; peeling off easily in
irregular bits. Mesophlcém deep green.
Brancurs —Partaking of the spiral or winding nature of the
stem; minutely tuberculated ; young branches full of greenish pith.
Older branches contain brown pith which loses its spongy nature
and hardens into a rough friable substance.
Tenprits.—Three-cleft,-oftener bifid, minutely spiral.
Leaves.—Generally palmate, bright green, membranous; 4-8
inches long, 2-6 inches broad, 8-5 or even 7-lobed ; cordate at base ;
scabrous upon the upper and under surfaces; upper surface more
markedly scabrous, and spotted with larger hairs seated on raised
circular discs, giving the leaf a characteristic appearance under the
72 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
magnifying glass. Nerves 3-5 markedly scabrous on the under-
surface, having a gland or two on each nerve deeply seated. Lobes
broad, sometimes entire, sometimes again lobed, and with segments
narrow, linear-lanceolate. Margin slightly serrate or dentate:
Lobe-divisions sometimes deep.
Petioles also having a tendency to be winding or twisted
1-2 mches long; channelled ; several large glands at the apex of
petiole.
Stipules single, small, axillary.
FLowers.—White, delicate in the female, stout in the male,
fading soon after opening over-night or early morning. The plant
blossoms during hot and rainy seasons, says Roxburgh, but I have
seen male flowers in November and December in Thana in the
Judge’s garden. his Thana plant is leafless now (March), and will
continue so until the next monsoons.
Matz Firowers.—Racemed, large, white, most delicately fringed
with long white branched bifid or trifid fllaments. Hacemes axillary,
longer than the leaves, solitary, with a smaller few-flowered second
Peduncles sometimes paired, stout, 5-6 incheslong. Bracts of the
male racemes large, foleacious, sheathing the flower from a broad
base, many times larger than the very short pedicels; ovate; trmged;
viscid; covered on the outside with dark green glandular spots of
the size of linseed or millet seed. Calyx 1—14 inch, bract-like ; seg-
ments ovate, deeply toothed or serrate; tomentose. Corolla 4 inches
in diameter, hypercrateriform, having the appearance of a Hat open
parasol with its fimbrie hanging down in beautiful tapers. Petals
marked yellow at the base, cuneate. Filaments triadelphous.
Anthers syngenesious, very.anfractuose.
Fewate Frowers.—Solitary, smaller and more delicately fimbriated
than the male; axillary; peduncle not so stout as in the male,
Calyx-teeth of the female flower less marked. Calyx-tube in female
short. Petals according to some nearly destitute of fimbriz
Corolla smaller than that of the male,
Feuir.—2-4 inches in diameter, globose, smooth, of the size of
an ordinary orange. When ripe of a bright deep red colour replete
with a dirty looking dark greenish pulp in which the seeds
nestle.
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 73
Sezps.—Numerous, oblong, compressed, irregularly triangular,
obtuse-margined; 4 inch long; according to Dr. Dymock jg inch
long, covered with a blackish shell, and containing a sweet oily
kernel.
RemarKs.—With regard to the height of this plant Clarke (in
Hooker’s Flora of British India, Vol. II, p. 607) puts it down as
“often 30 ft.” But I think Roxburgh described it more accurately
when he mentioned it asa “ native of forests where it runs over the
highest trees.” The plant may be seen trailing over hedges and
branches of trees over several yards. Roxburgh designates the
plant monecious. Wight and Arnott describe the female flower
as “solitary, in the same axl as the male” or occasionally race-
mose. I have not seen the male and female flowers in the same
axil yet; nor on the same plant. But I should be afraid of a
definite opinion in the face of such weighty authorities: I would
leave other observers to note this point. ‘ Leaves,’ says Wight,
“are glabrous, sometimes slightly scabrous.’ The whole plant I
think is scabrous to a more or less degree, except the fruit. Observe
Clarke’s remark at p. 607, Vol. II. Hooker’s Flora of British India:—
“‘A Trichosanthes collected in Mergin by Griffith has the leaves
with short hairs beneath.” Variety T’richosanthes Tomentosa is also
tomentose beneath (Heyne in Herb Rottle).
Clarke describes the fruit as marked with ten orange streaks.
I cannot help thinking that when he wrote this he had the Cucumis
Trigonus, var, pubescens or “ Takmak” (Marathi) before his mind’s
eye. I have not seen a fruit of this plant so definitely streaked.
Hooker follows this description in the letter-press accompanying
Tab. 6873 in Vol. XXII of the 3rd series of Curtis’ Bot. Magazine,
May Ist, 1886. The plate is a good illustration of the male flower-
ing plant. My plate, be it observed in passing, is of the female
plant with the fruit changing colour in the course of its maturity.
The colour is rich, but not uniform ; it changes from day to day from
the bright green of its younger days to the golden yellow, orange,
or bright vermilion of advanced life, interspersed with all the
shades between, often exhibited on one and the same individual
fruit, at one and the same time in its later life.
Hooker describes the flowers as sweet-scented. I think to some
10
74 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
the odour may prove not particularly agreeable—mawkish if any-
thing. The fruit is seldom if ever pyriform, a form which has ~
been observed by some writers. Dr. Dymock says the number of
seeds ranges from 60—100. Thisis rather a high average for the
Konkan, where perhaps the fruit is smaller. 20-30 is as good an
average as I can strike. The whole fruit of the plant—the rind
and pulp included—is intensely bitter, but, as has been noted above,
the kernel of the seed is sweet. Dr. Dymock says the vine is
not bitter (vide “‘ Pharmacographia Indica,” Vol. II., p. 71), I have
now a section of the stem of the male plant before me. The
bark and the wood are both bitter, but not half so bitter as the
fruit.
In passing I may here observe that the size of the fruit, as
growing in India and as noted by all Indian Botanists, is much
smaller than that of the same fruit growing in Australia, Baron
Sir Ferd. Von Mueller, the accomplished veteran Government
Botanist of Victoria, notes that the Trichosanthes Palmata growing
near Burnett River bears fruit 3-6 inches long, 2-3 inches broad
(p. 187, Vol. VI., Fragmenta Phytographiz Australi).
Tut Poisonous Propertizs.—The poisonous properties of the
plant exist in the pulp and fruit-shell. The pulp acts likea dras-
tic purgative when taken internally as a mere laxative. In pro-
ducing this effect the plant partakes of the drastic properties of
its congener Hebalium Elatertum (Syn. LHebalium officinarum)
commonly called the squirting cucumber, which furnishes the
British Pharmacopeia with one of its most powerful purgatives,
known as Hlaterium, which is the dried sediment of the expressed
juice of the fruit, It may be noted that these purgative properties
of the respective plants do not suffer on drying. The pulp and
shell of Trichosanthes Palmata, even if dry, retain all their dele-
terious element intact, They soon soften when moistened with
water, and are as potent as fresh fruit. It seems to me that Tricho-
santhes Palmata is more powerful in its action than Citrullus
Colocynthis—another of its congeners from the Cucurbitacee, which
is a recognized purgative in English and Indian Medicines
According to Charak, an ancient standard authority on Indian
Materia Medica, Trichosanthes Palmata is a blood-purifier and a
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 75
nervine tonic. The root of it is besides used as a stomachic tonic.
It is in the course of the administration of the root of this plant and
of the pulp and rind of the fruit that I have seen the poisonous
effects which I think are sufficient to justify the introduction of this
plant among the Poisonous plants of Bombay. Roxburgh had heard
of its poisonous effects on birds in his day. He notes that “ mixed
with rice it is used to destroy crows.” Dalzell and Gibson
note that it is much esteemed in India in diseases of cattle.
Dr. Lyon refers to me (vide p. 199, Medical Jurisprudence for
India, 1889) as having informed him of the fact that the fruit pulp
is used by forest frequenters as a cattle poison. I have since met
with cases wherein it has acted asa poisonon men. When itis
used for poisoning cattle itis mixed up with fodder. Sometimes
however it has unexpectedly acted as a poison when adminis-
tered medicinally to cattle for the cure of inflammation of the lungs.
The fact that the root is used by Indian villagers for curing acute
lung diseases among cattle has long since been noted by Wight.
The unsuccessful efforts made at the instance of Sir William
O’Shaughnessy and referred to in the Bengal Dispensatory (p. 350)
to ascertain whether the fruit had any properties at all, by giving
such small doses as three grains thrice daily, need not make us
sceptical as to the truly dangerous nature of the fruit-rind and
pulp. In small doses the plant root or fruit may act as a stomachic
tonic, or may have no sensible effect. But when the pulp of half
the fruit, or even a quarter is used—say if a dram or more in
weight—finds its way into the human stomach it does notappear to
be free from danger. Administered by ignorant or unsuspecting
persons not necessarily with a view to poison, it has done harm ;
drastic effects have been known to follow. The dry fruit-rind or
pulp when smoked is said to act beneficially in the cure of
asthma. I have no experience of this myself. On the other hand,
I have not heard of any poisonous effects following such administra-
tion. But I have known of cases of accidental poisoning when the
fruit was administered internally asa laxative and was followed
by drastic purgation and irritation of the prime vie. I know of
no case however in which it has caused death, or has ever been
used on men for criminal purposes,
76 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Dzscrrprion or Prats B. (a female plant),
1. Central branch bearing leaves and a solitary female flower.
2. Growing end of a branch to the left of the reader.
8. Top row of fruits (4) showing different colours in the order of
development from green to red.
4. Transverse section of the fruit through its centre with the
green pulp and seed surrounded by the yellow rind.
(To be continued.)
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF THE BRANCHES AND
LEAVES OF FICUS TSIELA.
By Dr. J. C. Liszoa.
( Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on
Ist March, 1892. )
You will notice on the table three specimens of branches belonging
to a fig-tree known in this country by the name of Pipree. Speci-
men No. 1 bears large leaves. No. 2 is an abnormal branch bearing
smaller leaves though of the same shape as No. 1. No. 3 is a
branch destitute of leaves, in fact a dead one. There are also on the
table three photographs, representing healthy, diseased, and dead
branches. |
Description. —Ficus Tsiela, Roxb., Fl. Ind. III. 549. Pipree,is a
large tree, trunk greenish and smooth, Leaves long petioled,
2-44 in. long, broadly-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, cuspidate or with an
abrupt acumination, entire, smooth on both sides and shining, specially
above, and marked with numerous parallel veins, generally from
8 to 10 pairs. Fruit paired, crowded on the axils of upper leaves,
sessile, somewhat turbinate, smooth, size of a cherry, purpie when
ripe. Said to be common on the Ghats.
Ts extensively planted as an avenue tree in Poona, and along the
road leading from that place to Katraj Ghat, and thence to Mahable-
shwar. The blades of the leaves of the planted trees, seen by me in
JOURNAL. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOC. 1892.
ne " P
Wi (omy %
Ss
At
3
>
AY
Wy?
~
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF THE BRANCHES AND LEAVES OF
FICUS TSIELA.
(a) Early stage of the Disease.
(8) Final stage.
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF FICUS TSIELA. 77
Poona, are smaller, generally 3-4 in. long. Those who have travelled
along that road or been in Poona must have noticed a curious phenom-
enon presented by the tree. From its branches may here and there
be seen hanging large green balls like Chinese lanterns. They are
oval or ovoid-oblong, varying in size from 2-3 feet orlonger. These
are composed entirely of numerous small leaves (1 have counted about
1,650 in one single ball) thickly congested on small branchlets, also
numerous and congested on larger branches. Seeing from a distance
one is apt to infer that the leaves have been brought together by the
viscid secretion of spiders or red ants; but a glance at the specimen
on the table shows that they are free from one another and that the
appearance is due to the innumerable short branches shooting out in
close proximity to one another, and bearing small closely imbricated
leaves. To understand thoroughly the formation of these green balls,
let us examine the healthy branch and compare it with the abnormal
one. In the former we see that it, the parent branch, and its
secondary branches are long, smooth and alternate, arising at some
distance from one another, being marked with an imperceptible line;
the secondary branches arise rather irregularly, those of the same
side at a distance of 3-4 in.; they never or very seldom give out
branches, nor are they swollen at their origin. The leaves are
large, long-petioled, and shoot out at a distance of 1-2 in. from one
another.
In the abnormal branch this arrangement of secondary branches
and their leaves is altered. Being stimulated by some cause or other
the primary branch shoots out numerous short, thin or slender branches
thickly congested. These in their turn give out shorter and still
thinner branches, so closely. approximated that the space between
he. internodes almost disappears. All the large branches and _ their
divisions are swollen and knotty, specially at their origin and on the
internodes. The swollen joints resemble small balls, size from a pea
to abettel-nut. The leaves are small, 14 in. long, inserted on a more or
less long petiole, and, as you see, highly crowded on the branchlets.
These small dwarfish leaves are so numerous that, as I have pre-
viously stated, 1,650 leaves were counted in one single ball 3 ft.
long.
At the commencement of this abnormal condition, or as I take it,
78 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
of the attack of the disease which is essentially chronic, the branches
are not very short nor the leaves very small, but as the malady advances,
the new leaves which appear at each successive season, become
gradually more and more dwarfish in appearance, the branches turn-
ing knotty and producing new smaller ones. The old trees on which
such phenomena take place, are covered with leaves of a paler colour
and of rather diminished size, though not so small as those on the
abnormal branches. The parts affected die a premature death ; this
is however a slow process.
The Pipree sheds its leaves in the cold season and renews them.
This fact was observed by me last year, and in a short time confirm-
ed by the experience of the natives and Kuropeans. This renewal
takes place also in the abnormal branch, and continues from season to
season for several years with this difference, that new leaves do not
shoot out at each season or every 2nd or even 3rd from the branch-
lets, at their origin from the parent branch; thus they gradually
become destitute of leaves from the lower or first attacked part to
the free extremity and, at last, die. After a time the whole branch
dies thus, and the dead branch, now dark brown or black, remains
attached for a long time to the tree, resembling a broom from a
distance. Now and then it happens that certain branches at
their origin from a parent branch becoming thus affected form
balls of leaves, and die in the manner described above. The paren
branch, however, if strong and tolerably large, continues to grow, but
ultimately it too becomes attacked and falls a victim to the morbid
action which appears to have been extended from the primary or
first attacked branchlets. It is curious that this process goes on
whilst the contiguous parts of the tree are healthy. It is a well-
known fact that in animals the death of the whole body or of a part
of it begins to manifest itself almost always at the extremities far-
thest from the centre. Symptoms of leprosy, senile gangrene, and of
various kinds of paralysis in man, are first observed at the tips of the
toes and of the fingers. So also does a tree or a branch of a tree show
signs of death at its extremity farthest from the roots. Just the
reverse is the case with Pipree. You will observe from these speci-
mens and photographs that the lower part of the affected branch is swol-
len nodose, dark-brown, ora shy-coloured and destitute of leaves, whilst
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF FICUS TSIELA. 79
fhe upper extremity of the branchlets still bear leaves. By this
slow and steady process, the whole branch dies in the space of two,
three, or more years. It appears that in the inferior, almost dead,
part there are still some more or less altered vessels capable of
carrying scanty nutriment from the trunk towards the few living
leaves, and the sap elaborated by these back towards the trunk.
As to the history, no Indian botanist out of so many has made even
a passing allusion to this abnormality. Dr. King, Superintendent
of the Calcutta Royal Botanic Garden, who is the only one who
alludes to it in his comprehensive monograph on the species of the
genus Ficus says:—‘‘ All the specimens which I have seen issued by
Wallich as 4,503, letter C, consist however of a sport of the tribe with
small leaves and greatly elongated petioles which is not uncommon
on old trees. This sport forms curious tufts on the ends of some of the
branches, and can be seen growing in abundance in Madras.” ‘This
is copied in Sir J. Hooker’s Flora of British India. Dr. King does
not state whether these tufts, which he calls sports, appear in wild as
well asin cultivated trees, and whether they are to be seen in Bengal.
Dalzell and Gibson, the authors of the Bombay Flora, say that Ficus
tsiela, Roxb., 1s a very common tree in this Presidency as it is in other
parts of India and Ceylon, but do not allude to the extraordinary
phenomenon. May the silence of all the authors be due to the Ficus
in the wild state being free from the disease, and appearing only
in the planted trees in the Poona district and in Madras? Why
should this be so? Again, may it be that the disease had not appeared.
in this Presidency at the time the authors of the Bombay Flora
were living in this country, whilst it existed in Madras during the
lifetime of Dr. Wallich? These are yuestions which must occur to
many, and which, I regret, J am not in a position to answer. I have
not observed this phenomenon in any other species belonging to the
fig tribe, or to any other tribe or genus, though they may be seen
growing in close proximity to Ficus tsiela. The disease, is, I. think,
hereditary, because it appears on trees grown from seedlings, or from
healthy branches, but apparently it is neither infectious nor con-
tageous, nor does it arise from the condition of the soil.
Many intelligent Europeans and Natives, who had noticed the green
mass or tuft of leaves on the Pipree tree, had attributed it to some
80 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
parasitic plant growing from it, and some had even gone so far as to }
aver that similar phenomena (balls) might be observed on the mango
tree, but when asked to produce specimens they brought a mass of
Loranthus longiflorus, Desv., &e. I donot deny that the mango may
not be attacked by the same ora disease similar to the one I am
describing, but I must confess that as yet I have not seen a single
well authenticated case.
Dr. King is, as you must have observed, of opinion that the condi-
tion of some branches and leaves above described is a sport. To this
opinion are opposed the following facts:—Sports are almost always
vigorous growths or off-shoots which appear in a vigorous branch of
a healthy tree, this being generally young. Now the abnormal con-
dition of branches of the Pipree tree appears almost always in an
old tree, the leaves of which are always of a pale yellowish colour,
branches dying sooner than the unaffected ones. At first only one
green ball is seen upon a tree, but as the years roll on and the tree
becomes older, it bears several such tufts.
I am inclined to think that this state of branches is a chronic and
hereditary disease which in its course resembles cancer in the human
body. This, as is well known, affects at first a certain part, say a’
female breast, and makes at first a slow progress, affecting one portion
after another till the whole breast is destroyed by the mass of disease
consisting mainly of adventitious cells. At advanced stages this
dire disease extends to the glands in the axils, and takes all the
malignant forms of certain tumours, and appears simultaneously or
successively in various parts of the body.
The nodose branches resemble the nodose condition of the feet and
toes of men suffering from elephantiasis of long standing. No cause
can be assigned to this affection. Although carefully sought no insect
agency producing the knotty swelling has been discovered. Dr. W.
Dymock thought that it might be the result of an insect which he
found in one dead branch submitted to his examination ; subsequently
careful examination revealed that it had accidentally gone into
the interior of the wood from the basket in which it was enclosed.
Mr. Woodrow, Professor of Botany and Agriculture of the Poona
College of Science, examined under the microscope some branches
without any result.
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF FICUS TSIELA. 8I°
The following is the answer of Dr. Barklay to whom was submit-
ted one specimen for examination :—
Kennepy CorraGe, SIMLA,
21st October, 1891.
‘“‘T have now examined the specimen of Ficus tsiela you 80
kindly sent me, but find no evidence that the abnormalities you
observed are due to the fungal invasion. . I made several sections
of a twig bearing the smaller and more numerous leaves, and
staining with Gentian violet could find no trace of mycelium:
If you like, I will, with pleasure, send you a slide for your own
inspection. It is possible that the pyrne of the specimens, while
in transit, destroyed any mycelial filaments which they may have
contained when fresh, though I do not think this probable. In
the absence of a fungal cause I am at a loss to suggest any
causation for the remarkable phenomenon.”
AERIAL Roots.—It is believed by many, even by Botanists, that
Ficus tsiela, Roxb., does not send down} root-drops, or aérial roots.
Some of the authors who have described the plant, are silent on the
point, though they mention trees from the branches of which
aérial roots shoot out. Dr. Roxburgh (Flora Indica) is explicit.
He says:—‘ Bark smooth, greenish, no roots from the trunk nor
branches.” Wright in his Icon. Plant. says:—“ It is very generally
planted by road-sides for the sake of its shade, and by not sending
down roots from the branches is so far superior to either /. Indica
(Banyan tree) or F. Benjamina, Linn., the pendulous roots of which
are often dangerous impediments on a road.”” Beddome, Manual of
Forrestry, says:—‘ No roots from the trunk or branches.” Dr, King,
in his memoir above alluded to, says:—“A large spreading tree
without aerial roots, all parts glabrous.” Sir J. Hooker in the
Flora of British India repeats Dr. King’s statement. Are we to think
that trees in Bengal and elsewhere are free from this kind of roots ?
For there is no doubt that many Pipree trees (not all) are seen in
Poona bearing down abundant aérial roots (see specimen on the
table), though never so long as to reach the ground. Generally
speaking, they are about one yard long. The roots of /. retusa, Linn.
(Nundrook), and F. Benjamina, Linn., do not also, so far as my
il
82 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY. SOCIETY, 1892.
observations go, reach the ground. I believe the only root-drops of
F. Bengalensis, (Wad.) Linn., reach the earth.
It is not ascertained, at least no author I have consulted, explains
why some trees should produce aerial roots and not others. Among
fig-trees in a few species only such as Wad. Pipree, and Numndrook,
F. Benjaminu, Linn., and F. Mysorensis, Heyne, are such roots
seen.
Cure oF THE Disease In Ficus Tsteta.—dAs to the cure of this
abnormal condition which I consider to be a disease, it would, I
think, be considered absurd by some that I should propose such a
thing, especially in a country where valuable fruit-trees such as
the mango are allowed either from apathy or ignorance on the
part of the proprietors to be destroyed by the attacks of parasitic
plants, without employing such a remedy as that of cutting them
down as soon as they make their appearance.
The Pipree is only used as a shady avenue tree, neither its wood
nor fruit being of any value. The ball-like green masses of small
leaves hanging like Chinese lanterns add at first to its beauty, but in
course of time they die, remaining attached to the tree as an ugly
appendage for a great length of time, often many years. Then the
leaves of the entire tree thus attacked become smaller and of a rather
paler colour than in health. To prevent this, 1 would recommend
those who have opportunity, to watch the disease carefully for years,
to find out whether it is caused by an insect puncturing a branch or
fruit, &c., and whether by cutting the first branch, in which the disease
appears, it be possible to arrest its further progress as is done by
extirpating a cancerous part of the human body. The Pipree plant
is certainly not of much value, but the experiment is recommendedin
the interest of science, for if a remedy be found, or if the cutting of
a branch lead to the arrest of the disease, the fact maylead us to the
knowledge of some other phenomena of plant-life, and give us an
insight into the nature of this and similar abnormal conditions.
As Dr. King thinks that it is a sport—I would ask you to plant this
sport in good season and appropriate soil and see whether it can be
reproduced.
Besides the photographs already mentioned at the commencement
of this paper, there are on the table others which give graphic
HEREDITARY DISEASE OF FICUS TSIELA. 83
representations of the trunks of Ficus Bengalensis, Linn. (Wad),
F. religiosa, Linn, (Pipal), F. tsiela, Roxb. (Pipri), and Pangamia
glabra, Vent. (Karunj).
TRUNK OF THE Fic TreEs.—Now I would call your attention to the
comformation of the trunk of the fig-treesin general. This is marked
by several more or less deep furrows, which, however, very seldom
extend beyond the large primary branches. They are sometimes so
deep as to make it appear that two or three trees during their growth
are united together, This appearance is still more delusive when
the ridges, which form the walls of the furrows, continue down to the
roots. Occasionally the trunk of a tree is divided by a large furrow
into two parts, which are held together by a sort of diaphragm or
flat central portion. I have seen a tree of this kind at the foot of
the Katraj Ghat, on the left side of the road leading to it, and another
in the city of Poona. The trunks of all the young trees, cultivated
er grown from seedlings, are round. It is only after years that
they show a tendency to become irregular. This conformation of
the trunk is common to all fig-trees, though more marked in some
than in others; thus in the Pipal (Ficus religiosa, Linn.) the trunk
is much disfigured by ridges and furrows being divided and sub-
divided in all directions, and the latter (furrows) being deep
here and shallow there, or the former becoming more or less
prominent and sharper in one place than in another. Roxburgh in
his Flora Indiea notices this condition thus: “ trunk (of Pipal) erect,
in small trees round, when large and old, it becomes full of irregu-
larities, 7. ¢., large perpendicular ridges and hollows as if many trunks
were united.”
The same botanist describing Wad (Ficus Bengalensis, Linn.) says:
“Trunk when young is distinct and single, at all times its form,
thickness, and height very variable, still more so than Ficus religiosa,
Linn., because generally reared from branches procured naked and
stuck in the ground.”’ It is well known that Wad (Ficus Bengalensis)
is enormously extended by the aérial roots descending and fixing
themselves on the ground and gradually increasing in size, and
becoming similar to the parent trunk. I have seen on one tree in
Poona these aérial roots gliding over the trunk, increasing its
thickness and adding a ridge or ridges to the already existing ones.
84 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1982.
The irregularities of the trunk of this fig-tree, and of other specie
I am speaking of, are caused independently of the aérial roots
They (the irregularities) are not confined to the trunks of the fig-trees
alone, but are also met with in those (though to a slight extent) of
Poinciana (Cesalpinea} regia, Bojer, and of several other plants,
specially trees of long standing. The cause of this state is not well
known. Mr. Woodrow, of the Poona Science College, thinks that
surface-growing trees are thus furrowed. Why these should be so
is not clear, inasmuch as there are many surface-growing trees, such
as palms, the trunks of which never show a tendency to this kind
of furrowing. It istrue that the roots of such trees spreading over the
surface are prominent, and appear to form ridges; these are like
buttresses, but do not produce the trunk. The food they absorb from
the earth is taken up to be elaborated by the leaves, and thence it
descends to nourish the whole tree.
I believe that the ridges are due to the vigorous growth of large
primary branches; for on close observation it will be found that the
former are in a line with the latter, becoming large and more promi-
nent'as they descend towards and into the roots. In their descent the
ridges sometimes bifurcate or divide themselves into more than two
ridges. The space between the ridges form furrows which are deep
or shallow according as the former are prominent or less vigorously
formed.
_ I believe that the sap descending from the branches contributes to
the enlargement of that part of the trunk which is opposite to them
by supplying it with more nourishment than the contiguous part.
In corroboration of this comes the fact that the aérial roots of Wad
(Ficus Bengalensis, Linn.) and of other trees, before they reach the
earth and fix themselves into it, are chiefly supplied with nourishment
from the parent branch. In fact all the parts of a tree are
nourished from above.
835
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA.
By Verertnary-Caprain G. Rayment, A.V.D.,
Assistant-Superintendent, Horse Breeding Department for
the N.-W. Provinces and Rajputana.
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 3rd May 1892.)
I feel in writing this paper, that I am almost presumptuous in
publishing my opinions on Horse-breeding in India, after an experi-
ence extending over only five years of actual work in my department,
particularly when there are still amongst us such masters of the
subject as Major-General Parrott, Messrs. Hallen and Kettlewell. But
with the exception of a few articles in sporting papers, a pamphlet
or two, and the reports of the Stud Commission, the ripe experience
and knowledge of these gentlemen have never been placed at the
disposal of the public. My chief object in bringing this subject
before the Society, is to provoke a discussion, and enable us to get
at the opinions of practical horsemen and breeders all over India:
I therefore trust that nothing in this paper may be taken as spoken
ex cathedra, but simply as the opinion of one still a student, and
anxious, by comparing his views with those of others, to impart what
little knowledge of the subject he may possess, while correcting his
own errors, and learning fresh facts from the free discussion which
he trusts will follow.
Considering what a “horsey ”’ nation we are, it is curious how few
understand anything of practical Horse-breeding, and how little it
is studied scientifically. Patience, time, and money are all required
to breed good horses, combined with a special aptitude for the work,
great powers of judgment, and practice in the art of matching the
mare and stallion. Few possess these qualities; hence, breeding is
frequently “hit or miss,” and good horses are produced accidentally
instead of being the result of forethought and science. A Thorough-
bred, %.e., pure bred horse, must have five top crosses. Thus, five
generations are necessary to get hereditary qualities fixed, or we have
no surety that the stock may not throw back. Conformation, colour,
temper, cdénstitution, and unsoundnesses of many kinds, or a
tendency to them, are hereditary.
Conformation.—Defects and excellences are both inherited,
Crooked legs, toes in or out, straight shoulders, and many others.
36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
To eradicate them, one cross is not sufficient, as the defect may miss
a generation and appear in the next. By continually crossing, for
instance, with good sloping-shouldered stallions in several genera-
tions, a straight shoulder would be got rid of, but not in one or two.
Constitution.— Weak constitution is inherited, especially that
known as washy, 1.¢., horses sweating easily, liable to diarrhcea when
worked, and apt to get superpurgation from a very small dose of
purgative medicine.
Temper.—Many vices, buck-jumping in Australians, impetuosity
and excitability are inherited.
Colowr.—Is also inherited. Huropeans prefer bay, black, dark
chestnut, and brown. Hence these coloursare selected for breeding
the best class of horses. The result is, we practically never see
roan, grey, dun, or piebald Thorough-breds. Horses of these
colours in England are coarse and to be avoided, except greys and
sometimes roans. Grey is a favourite colour amongst the Arabs,
so out here many excellent horses are of that hue. Witness the pony
“Blitz,” the famous ‘‘Greyleg,” and others. Since long-range rifles
and guns have come so much into use, greys have been objected to
for Army purposes, as they are so easily seen. Hence they will
probably die ont; in the meantime they are becoming cheaper.
Native princes like dun as a colour; the result is good dun horses
and ponies are by no means uncommon in India. For generations
they have been well cared for, and the best stallions and mares
amongst them purposely mated to reproduce that shade. They
frequently have noses, arms, scrotum, and sheath pink, and blue
eyes. This, though hideous in the sight of an Englishman, is
much approved by many natives.
Unsoundness.—The following are the principal hereditary unsound-
nesses, or, strictly speaking, unsoundnesses, a tendency to which is-
hereditary :—
Constitutional Ophthalmia.
Cataract.
Amaurosis.
Glaucoma.
Tritis.
Roaring and Whistling.
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 87
Splint.
Spavin.
Ringbone,.
Sidebone.
Laminitis.
Navicularthritis.
Curb.
Defective feet, &c.
Tendency to brittle feet, weak soles, flat soles, sand-crack, &c.
Lameness, produced by strains, sprains, break-down, dislocations,
fractures, etc., is not transmitted. specially avoid unsoundness in
dam or sire. The tendency to it is always inherited, and no
amount of crossing seems to eradicate it. The famous ‘‘Ormonde”’ is
one of a family of Whistlers. ‘‘ Galopin,” the sire of “ Donovan,” is
coarse hocked. ‘ Godolphin,” a son of his, now in India, is markedly
defectivein his hocks, and his stock are frequently spavined. By breed-
ing always from one particular stamp possessed of certain qualities
which we wish produced, we get at last a breed or variety of a race.
In nature, Darwin says thisis done by natural selection. Let us take
birds. Say a certain male bird by accident gets a few feathers on
the top of his head forming a slight crest, and this crest takes the
fancy of the hens he ‘will mate more easily than his fellows. His
sons will probably have these small crests and are quite likely to mate
in after-life with their sisters, this will accentuate the tendency to
produce crested, males, and if, again, incestuous mating occur, the
tendency grows stronger, so in the course of many years, perhaps
thousands, a crested race is produced, hoopoes, bulbuls, ete.
This is the way Darwin contends that race varieties are formed in
nature. Now, here is what we also want to do in breeding domesti-
cated animals and to form a variety which shall possess certain
qualities or conformation, rendering them more serviceable for the
purposes for which we require them. We cannot wait, as nature
does, hundreds or thousands of years, but must stamp the qualities
we want speedly. Say we want pace—we take a stallion of great
galloping powers (irrespective of other qualities), and put him
to the fastest mare we can get; the produce we mate with its own
sire, ifa filly; with its own damif acolt. This accentuates the
88 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
power of speed; and the system carried on results in very fast stock,
such as the Thorough-bred English horse of to-day. This is called
breeding “‘in and in.” But in producing an especial quality hkethis,
we also produce others which are not always beneficial. We rarely
get strength combined with speed ; hence, the stronger horses bemg
slower are not bred from. and, as we can see any day in Hngland now,
we get any number of race horses possessed of marvellous powers of
speed for a short distance, carrying avery light weight, but only with
avery few, who can gallop, say, five miles with 14stone up. When we
do get them, they are of course the best animals in the world, but they
are rare. ‘To get thisspeed too, stallions and mares are employed that
are unsound and of delicate constitution, hence many Thorough-bred
English horses go wrong in training, either lame, or get knocked up.
Incattle this is very marked in Short Horns, a breed produced by “‘in
and in” breeding. They areimmense animals, growing very big while
still mere babiesand fatten very rapidly ,hencethey should be extremely
valuable and profitable to farmers, but, unfortunately they have a
tendency to tuberculosis, which has been so much enhanced by ‘‘in
and in” breeding that it has now becomea perfect plague amongst
Short Horns. Many breeds of dogs, bred to win prizes at Shows,
are similarly affected with hereditary tendencies to certain diseases.
Throwing back.—An animal is said to throw back, when he
inherits some quality from an ancestor which his own parents have
not. Ifa colt have a big head, and his sire and dam small or ordi-
nary sized ones, we frequently find on looking back that his grandsire
or dam, or great-grandsire or dam was possessed of such a peculi-
arity. It is the same with other qualities. —
Crossing.—If we put a mare of one breed to a stallion of another,
it is called “crossing,” and the progeny is “‘half-bred.” A “half-
bred”? hunter for instance is a horse whose sire was a Thorough-
bred. Mongrel is a horse, neither the dam or sire of which is
Thorough-bred in the sense of pure bred, and therefore the
progeny is of very mixed blood, in fact, no particular breed at all.
He is generally too an animal of low courage, small powers of
endurance, and often vicious. If he is well shaped, it is a mere
chance, as he may throw back to any ill-shaped progenitor or perhaps
combine the defects of several.
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. a9
Nicking.-This term is used by breeders to denote the matching
-of the mare and stallion. A mare is said to have mticked well with a
horse when the offspring is satisfactory, or badly when the reverse is
the case. Also certain breeds are said to nick well with certain others.
Strains of blood—Mean that a family of horses have been crossed
a generation or more back by some particular breed or well-known
orse. Thus we say of a horse, perhaps Mongrel, “he has a strain of
Thorough-bred blood,” or “he has a strain of ‘ Hermit’ blood,”
meaning the race-horse ‘* Hermit.”
Last Top Cross—Means the cross between the sire and dam. A
pure bred horse must have five top crosses. sic.
Pure bred Stallion A x with Half-Bred Mare B.
eae
aa
I
P. B. Stallion A mates with
il II
P. B. Stallion A mates with B.
Result.
Til Til
P. B. Stallion A mates with B.
Result.
IV IV
P. B. Stallion A mates with B.
Result BV being pure bred. The half-bred taint in the mare B
being now supposed to be eradicated.
12
99 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
‘The Progeny is supposed to take after the sire, in the conformation
of the fore limbs, in strength, energy and capacity for work. The
mare gives height, size, and shape behind. But this rule is general
to which there are many exceptions.
Age.—The foal often takes after that parent which is m middle life
and therefore most vigorous.
Breed.—The better bred parent also stamps him or herself more
markedly on the progeny. So strong is this that many horses are
noted for what is called stamping their stock.
Sea.—aA colt takes after the sire, a filly after the dam.
Stallions and mares.—We must now pass to the mating of the
stallion and mare. In the first place we will consider the stallion.
Whatever elass of stallion we wish to breed from, he should be the
best of his kind, free from vice, hereditary unsoundness, and of good
conformation. It is a mistake to suppose, for instance, that if a
stallion has an ugly head we can modify or alter the head of his
offspring by putting him to @ mare with a small well-shaped one.
Stallions in this country are generally larger than the mares. But
we should avoid too large a sire or we may injure the mare in copu-
lation. Nor will it necessarily follow that the foal will be very
large and vigorous. ‘The Oriental breeds used by Government
in India are Arabs, Persians, Country-breds, Turkoman, and
Stud-bred.
Arab stock are well shaped, hardy and good-looking, have great
powers of endurance, are good goers, have good feet, good tempers,
are often fast, and make troopers’for Native Cavalry. The stallions
themselves too are hardy, and will keep health and condition on food,
aud in a climate where other horses would die. They are generally
good tempered, which is a point of some importance, as an impetuous
vicious stallion is often very troublesome, and gets himself disliked
by the syces and mare owners. The drawback to the Arab stock
-1s that it is generally wanting in height, has insufficient bone below
the knee (shank measurement), has too long and sloping pasterns, and
is frequently narrow chested, and raily. Also the Arab often, when
not quite pure bred himself, fails to stamp his stock, and it takes
after the Country-bred’s dam, showing the crooked hind limbs, eow-
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 91
hocks, and falling away behind of the mother. Arab stallions are
best fitted for districts where grain and forage are scarce, and the
people poor, and unable to feed their youngsters well. As
already mentioned, Arabs will grow into useful animals on food that
would stunt the growth of Hnglish stock, and produce weedy,
misshapen, worthless creatures. Arab stock in England grow large,
because they get well fed, and both climate and soil are favorable
to their development. Again, well-bred Arab stallions may with
advantage be put to pure bred, big, roomy mares, to produce
foals adapted for generally useful purposes. The cross of Arab
blood thus infused gives the progeny beauty, endurance, and spirit.
But be careful that the mare is pure bred, if mongrel, and holding
strains of a variety of breeds, the progeny will be mongrel too, and
may throw back to one or more of its maternal ancestors, and you
may get an ill-shaped brute not worth rearing.
Persian.—I am not greatly in favour of this class of horse, for the
reason that he is not ‘true bred,’’? his pedigree is doubtful, and
being mongrel himself it is not possible to tell what his produce will
be like. Ihave seen but little of the stock of Persian horses in India,
and those I have come across have not impressed me very favourably:
There are, moreover, but very few of this class of stallion in the
country. In my opinion all the good qualities of the Persian or
Gulf Arab he owes to the infusion of pure Arab blood, and the
stronger they hold this strain the better they are. As far as their
powers of endurance, ability to live on short commons, and hard
indigestible food goes, they come next to the Arab. But they want
his speed, his courage, and his good looks. They are sluggish
tempered, and lymphatic, especially when gelt. They have, however,
generally the advantage of size, standing higher, possessing more
bone and substance, and are good tempered.
Country-breds.— We sometimes find very good horses of this class,
sired by a Government stallion. If his pedigree is not crossed
too much, so as to make hima mongrel, he often proves a very useful
sire. It is not possible to describe a Country-bred stallion in
general terms, as so much depends on whether he is of Thorough-
bred, Half-bred, or of Arab descent. Care should be taken in. this
class of sire to reject such horses as show the defects of the Indian
92 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
animal, such as straight shoulder, narrow chest (legs both coming
out of one hole), toes in or out, want of bone, want of depth, want of
substance, cow hocks, hocks away from him, sloping croup, or
falling off behind. These being the faults of the Country-bred
mare, if she be put to a Country-bred stallion possessing them, they
will be accentuated in the stock. I have purchased a few Country-
breds for stallions in the last few years, and their stock, although
promising, is not yet old enough to show with certainty what they
are worth. Many persons in India are possessed with the idea that
in a-certain number of years we shall be able to do without imported
stallions, and to select from the improved Country-breds our future
sires. ‘This is in my opinion visionary ; for, except in a few districts
in the north, specially favoured by climate and soil, the indigenous
Indian horse is small, narrow, and wanting in bone and substance,
and to this type there is a strong tendency to revert unless a conti-
nual supply of foreign blood be imported to prevent it.
Turkoman.—The real Turkoman is a pure bred horse, and the
best of them are very fine animals, well calculated to make excellent
stallions. The prices asked for these are enormous. They are big
horses, over 15 hands, possess much bone and substance, good
shoulders, and do not fall off behind. Their hardness and powers of
endurance are historical. Chestnut isa common color. Unfortu-
nately the general ran of Turkomans, although standing high, are
narrow, raily, and want bone. There are also many so-called
Turkomans which are Mushids or half-bred Mushids, and this class
are a poor lot, coarse, soft, and currish.
Stud-bred.—This class, bred in the old Government Studs, is now
extinct. They were fine horses, and many excellent animals were
bred from them; unfortunately the stud authorities crossed their
stock injudiciously, and the result was, that these stallions were far
from pure bred. As they were put to mongrel mares, it was a mere
lottery as to whether the stock obtained was good or bad.
Amongst other Indian breeds are the Kathiawar, the Dekani,
the Wuzuri, the Kata, and the Punjabi.
Kathiawar.—Were good, often mouse-coloured, and had almost
invariably a list, and often donkey marks. Now spoiled by injudicious
crossing.
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 93
Dekani.—A good hardy pony, but small and light. Practically
extinct.
Wuzurii—Good looking and hardy, but light. Has curiously
pointed ears.
Kata.—A breed in the Mozuffarnagar district. Encouraged a
good deal by the Sikh Rajahs for Cavalry purposes. They were
large, big-framed animals, and of a good stamp. The Kata still
produces good animals.
Punjabi.—Bad colour, white, dun, etc. Pink nose, sheath, arms,
etc.; but large, and frequently possessing much bone and substance.
A favourite stallion with many natives, but disliked by Huropeans
for his colour, heavy shoulder and bad action. All the same, there
are many good horses amongst them.
Other stallions are Thorough-bred, Norfolk Trotter, and Half
bred, Waler, Cape, and New Zealand. These may be called Foreign
or Exotic horses
Thorough-bred English.— About this horse opinions vary so very
widely that I almost fear to touch on the subject at all.
I know my ideas differ considerably from those of many experi-
enced men, and are likely to call forth, if not a torrent of vituperation
and indignant denial, at least sneers and contemptuous remarks.
Let me preface the expression of my opinion by stating that I
consider a good English Thorough-bred the finest horse in the world.
As a stallion racer, hunter, or charger he is unequalled; but unfor-
tunately the good English Thoroughebred is not common, and there
is an enormous demand for him; hence, his price corresponds. If
breeding in India were on a small scale, Government could go into
the market against the private purchaser, and by the length of its
purse, beat him and obtain such horses as by breed, shape, and
general conformation, would in a very few generations supply us
with magnificent stock. This is, however, not the case. Hxclusive
of Bombay, Government use 800 stallions in India, and could not
possibly afford to pay the enormous sum which would be required to
have them all, or a majority of them, the best class of Thorough-
breds, even if this large number were procurable, which I very
much doubt. The Thorough-breds now imported for stud purposes,
though I honestly believe the best to be had at the price, £ 250 to
94, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
£400, are not, as a rule, the class of horse calculated to improve the
indigenous stdck. The latter want size, substance, bone, and shape.
And I assert that the class of Thorough-bred for which the Govern-
ment can afford to pay, and which exist in sufficient numbers to
supply the demand, are not capable of producing such improvement.
I donot make this statement on theoretical grounds, but as the result
of careful inspection of many hundreds of their stock in the Punjab
and N.-W. P. Let me now endeavour to account for this.
For many years past this class has been bred for the turf,
4.¢., for speed. A winner of races, be his faults what they may,
when his career is finished, retires to the stud. Here, he is mated,
not with mares selected for roominess, bone, and substance, but
with mares whose speed has also been proved by their feats on
the turf. Soundness, constitution, conformation, in fact every quality
desirable in parents of good stock are overlooked, if the dam and
sire are speedy. The breeder gets what he wants, fast animals
capable of covering a certain limited distance in an amazingly short
period of time, carrying a very light weight.
Now, as breeding this class of horse is expensive, a quick return
on the outlay is necessary to make it profitable. To obtain this, the
stock is forced to precocious maturity by high feeding.
The colt who should still be running in the paddocks, developing
bone and substance, and maturing naturally into a fine horse, finds
himself at two or three years old facing the starter on a race course.
Now what results would any horseman predict from this? /irst—
soundness not being a sime qua non—unsound stock. Second—
lightness, length, and a long stride being favourable for speed, want
of substance and narrowness. TZhird.—- Precocious maturity by arti-
ficial means, 1.e., high feeding and pampering—delicacy of constitu-
tion and early failure. JMourth—Taxing inordinately ; immature
bone, tendon, ligament and wind, splint, spavin, sprain, break-
down, and roaring.
Are these predictions verified? For answer observe the Hansom
cabs in London and other large towns. Ask the Veterinary Sur-
geons and trainers at racing centres.
On the other hand their advocates contend, and very justly,
that the Thorough-bred hunter for speed, endurance, power,
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 95
courage, and fencing, is par excellence the horse. Exactly so. Let
us trave his history, and we find he has proved as a young horse
too sluw for the turf. The very qualities that give him his
long staying powers and big jumping capabilities, militate against
the terrific speed required for the modern racer. Again his price is
very high, even hunting men with long purses, ready to give fancy
sums for blood horses, find it difficult to obtain what they want, the
difficulty yearly increasing. In other words, the demand is greater
than the supply. One more objection, last, but not least. These
horses are castrated. Firstly—because they would be too trouble-
some in the hunting field with mares. Secondly—they would not
beget the speedy stock required for the turf, for, although faster
than anything they meet with to hounds, as before remarked they
are too slow, to meet their weedy, speedy relatives for short distances,
carrying small boys, on the turf.
Under these circumstances, I am not an advocate for the indis-
criminate use of the Thorough-bred English as a stallion in India,
But there is no man in the country who more upholds his employ-
ment in a judicious manner, mating him with mares of the proper
stamp in suitable districts as a cross. The stock not to be bred
from, but utilized for Cavalry, riding horses for the public, and
light draught, leads in Artillery, ete. The proper stamp of mare to
mate the Thorough-bred with is a pure bred, sound, roomy, deep-
chested, big-girthed animal, with plenty of bone and substance;
height at least 15 hands, age not less than five. To put my opinion —
in another way, and in fewer words, I consider the Thorough-bred
that Government can afford to purchase for India is not calculated
to produce, when mated with the indigenous mare, the class of stock
required for military, or general utility purposes; but an admirable
stallion, if mated with judiciously selected pure bred mares, the
produce of a larger, if coarser, pure bred horse. This applies
equally to the Arab. If I understand Mr. Hallen’s views correctly,
these have been the lines he has worked on, in his efforts to provide
us in India with a good useful stamp of animal. After considerable
experience and much thought, I have come to the conclusion, that
they are sound, and will give us the best results if he be allowed to
carry them on without injudicious interference. A description of a
96 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Thorough-bred English horse would be a work of supererogation, so
IT will omit it.
Norfolk Trotter. —Here again I fear my views will meet with scant
approval in many quarters. The “horsey” public in India are gener-
ally the racing public. Apart from those interested in the turf,
there are but few men, even in the Army, who take an interest in the
question of breeding, and still fewer, whose opinions are valuable,
either from experience or study. Hence a sire that cannot gallop,
and whose pedigree holds no strain of racing blood, is to most men
“anathema marantha.”’ The Norfolk Trotters have been over-
whelmed with a shower of abuse from all quarters. Hallen’s fools (not
foals as I once saw it printed), three-cornered, hairy-legged devils,
plough horses, and conservancy cart horses, were some of the epithets
applied to them. Of late years, the tide has turned, the numerous
fairs, held annually in the Punjab and N.-W. Provinces, have given
the publica chance of seeing the stock of these much abused stallions
for themselves. Their superiority to other classes has been so
palpably shown at these gatherings that both civilians and soldiers
are confessing themselves converted. But they have still many
bitter opponents. The Norfolk Trotter is by no means the coarse,
hairy-legged animal that people have been taught to believe. A
good specimen is a compact, well ribbed-up horse, with great
girth and shank measurement, standing level on short legs, very
short shanks, large flat knees, well developed square hocks, and
is singularly free from disease of the feet and eyes. He has first
class action at the trot. I would employ none without five top
crosses, ensuring purity of pedigree. Unfortunately we cannot
always obtain exactly what we want. A certain number of the
horses that have come out to India, are not of pure pedigree,
are coarser than they should be, and wanting in action. But with
all these faults, they have done an immense amount of good, and are
continuing to do so. Let any one, however prejudiced, see a collec-
tion of branded mares of all ages, and he will be forced to confess
that the young mares are far superior to the old ones, and with a
little trouble it can be easily demonstrated that the improvement is
progressive, each generation being better than the last. Consult
the birth certificates, and it will be found that the big roomy mares
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 97
are sired, grandsired, and even great grandsired by the Norfolk
Trotter. Frequently we get monstrosities in the shape of a colt
with a Norfolk Trotter body and Country-bred legs, a wretched
animal whose legs are not fit to carry his body. This sort of beast
is a perfect godsend to the Thorough-bred advocates. His short=
comings are trumpeted abroad, and, if he be found in a fair, the
whole place rings with the discovery. There may be twenty head
of nice stock by Norfolk Trotters in his immediate vicinity, but
they are never taken notice of. The goose amongst the swans
attracts all eyes. Yet these very men on a judging committee
at a fair, will turn the Thorough-bred stock out of the ring in
shoals and be very much surprised when they are informed at
the end of the business that the major part of the prizes and all
the highest have been awarded by their own decision to Norfolk
Trotter stock. This I have seen not once, but over and over
again. Sume years ago an Artillery Officer walked round some
stables in India, holding 25 or 30 Norfolk Trotters; before starting
he was asked to point out any he considered too coarse for Field
Artillery. From the lot he selected fwo; when asked if Field
Artillery never received Walers as coarse, he confessed that they
did, and coarser.
Now, if the stallions themselves are not too coarse for Field
Artillery (I am certain many a Colonel of Dragoons would be glad
to take the majority as remounts in the ranks of his regiment), how
can the stock of such horses, out of lighter mares than themselves,
‘be too coarse for Army purposes. This is a conundrum I am
unable to find an answer for.
The Half-bred English.—This class I am not an admirer of.
Undoubtedly many are fine horses, and some of the flyers from
General Parrott’s stud had a strain of this blood. The most popular —
horse in the Horse-breeding Department of the N.-W. P. was a
stallion of this breed, so much so, that advances were made by
deaiers on his unborn foals. But in spite of this, I distrust a cross-
bred horse, especially when put to an equally cross-bred mare; the
result must be mongrel, good perhaps, but quite likely to be worth-
less, and, if a filly, not likely when her time comes to add to the
equine population to produce anything worth having, The Half-,
13
98 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
bred is impossible to describe, as he may have been thrown to his
Thorough-bred sire, or his coarse-bred dam. In consequence he
may look a well-bred, handsome horse, or a coarse, ugly one.
Specimens of each may be found in India.
Australian Waler.—Generally Thorough-bred. They are, I think,
more delicate in India than the English Thorough-bred, and I have
found their stock disappointing. This Iam told was also acknow-
ledged to be the case in old stud-days.
New Zealanders.—As far as I am aware have not as yet been
tried.
Cape.—Have now become extinct. I am informed that there
used to be some very superior stallions of this breed in former days
in the stud. Captain Nunn, D.S.O., of the Army Vety. Department
in his report on the Cape horses, published. a few years ago, speaks
unfavorably of the present breed.
Mares.—Speaking in general terms, the indigenous equine of
India is really what would be considered in Hnglanda pony. Gifted
with marvellous powers of endurance, ability to live and work on a
minimum of food, and capable of continuous exertion for long
periods. These are the good qualities of the race. On the other
hand, as a result of many generations of ill management, want of
knowledge and care in breeding, climatic influences, and bad keep,
they are narrow, wanting in middle piece, in bone, in height, and in
action. Though often of fair conformation in front, they nearly
always fall off behind, drooping quarters, narrowness across the hips,
sickle, or cow-hocks are the rule, not the exception. This is the
class of horse that is at our disposal to produce remounts for the
Army and useful horses for the general public.
Without doubt exceptions to the above may be found, and there
are in the Punjab and on the Frontier several breeds which furnish
promising brood mares, of fair height, bone, and substance. In
Bombay too, Kathiawar and the Deccan produced in the old days a
good class of animal, but now one is met on all sides by lamenta-
tions over the decadence of the Kathiawari, and the almost utter
disappearance of the little Deccanni.
The problem to be solved, or, I may say, in course of solution is,
“What are we to do to improve the indigenous stock up to the
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 99
needs of our requirements, starting with the class of dams described
above?” To answer this question, the following points must be
considered, as they affect the various districts :—
1. Climate.
. Soil.
Nature of crops.
Extent of Waste or Pasture Lands.
Poverty, wealth, habits, and customs of the inhabitants.
Willhorse growing pay better than grain or cotton growing?
i iOniynate —Much depends on climate. A dry, warm climate
is undoubtedly favourable for the development of equines,
and could the necessary nutritious grains and grasses be grown
under such conditions, there would be no hesitation in at once
selecting countries lke Arabia, Afghanistan, Sind, etc., as the
best breeding grounds. Unfortunately dry heat means generally a
scanty water-supply, and deficiency of forage and grain. The result
being that the young stock do not get enough to eat, and never grow
to any size. Onthe other hand, a damp, warm climate is fatal.
Bengal, many parts of the Madras Presidency, the greater portion
of the Indian coast, are eminently unsuitable to breeding. As a
rough practical rule, we may say, that where rice flourishes horse
breeding will not. The same rough rule applies I am told to tobacco.
2. Soil.—Damp, marshy soil is unfavorable to the rearing of
geod stock. Horses brought up on such land are soft and washy,
their bones spongy and wanting in hardness, feet large, flat, and the
horn soft. Well-drained, light land, rather sandy is the best we
ean have. Between these two extremes we get, of course, all varie-
ties ; but, as a general rule, the drier and better drained the land,
the more adapted is it for our purpose. The presence of lime in the
soil is indispensable for young stock. Bone is made up largely of
this substance and, if it does not exist in the soil, the herbage cannot
contain it ; as a result, the bone of animals reared in lands deficient
in lime, is wanting in earthy constituents and is too soft to be of
any use. Not uncommonly such soft bone bends and we get crooked
legs, etc., etc., in fact, ricketts. |
3. Nature of Crops.—The nature of the crops in a district have
much to say to the production of horses. Where barley, chennah,
D or oo bo
i]
100 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
etc., are cheap, where kurbi and bhoosa are plentiful, where such
grasses as Dub (Cynodon Dactylon), Anjana (Pennisetum Cenchioides),
Sanwak (Panicum Crus-Gallt), Makra (Paniewm Egyptiacum), Jurgah
(Andropogon Annulatus), Kewai (Panicum Cilare), etc., etc., flourish,
there we can raise big horses. The young stock are well fed. The
climate and soil favourable for such crops are also favorable for
horses.
Again, where scanty crops and coarse unnutritious grass only are
obtainable, we can raise only scant crops of horses. And these,
though they may be good of their kind, and, for hardiness and
endurance, superior to their better fed brethren, will never grow to
the same size.
A, Extent of Waste or Pasture Lands.—Of late years owing to
the immense increase of the export trade in grain, its cultivation:
has received a powerful stimulus.
Hence, Jands that a few years ago were lying waste and only
used for the grazing of cattle and other stock are now put under
the plough, and produce wheat and barley instead of bullocks, cows,
sheep, and horses. It was always difficult to induce the horse-
owners to allow sufficient liberty to their stock, but now-a-days, over
a very large part of the country, liberty 1s impossible, as there are no
pastures to allow them to run on. Where grass could be had for
the cutting, it is now rather an expensive luxury, for, instead of
more or less extensive maidans in the neighbourhood of every village,
we have square miles of grain and cotton, and the grass growing on
the bunds and paths that intersect these fields is jealously guarded
by the owners, who can barely get enough of it to feed the bullocks
they require for their ploughs and wells. Owing to this too the
question of grass supply for Army horses is daily becoming a more
serious one, and Government has had to face the difficulty by allotting
grass lands to the various mounted branches in the neighbourhood
of Military Cantonments.
5. Habits and customs of the people.—The tastes, castes,
manners and customs of the inhabitants of a district have a great
deal to say to the number and quality of the horse stock they raise.
Many castes have a natural taste for horses, and, although their
ideas on equine matters but rarely accord with ours, still they make
HORSE-BREEDING IN-INDIA. 101
fair stock owners and take great interest in the subject. In former
days, when every man’s hand was against his brother’s, and each
petty Raja or Chief made war on his fellow at his own sweet will and
pleasure, a good sword and a good horse were considered a very
sufficient outfit for any smart young fellow. The most important
part of the forces employed in these petty wars that raged inter-
minably throughout the land consisted of horsemen, hence all the
warlike tribes took the greatest interest in the breeding and rearing
of the horse. With the advent of a settled Government under
British supremacy these turbulent days passed away, and the need
for large numbers of horses in every petty state passed away with
them. The taste rapidly decreased, and we now find a very large
proportion of natives utterly indifferent to, if not disliking, the noble
animal. The extension of railways has helped also in still further
rendering the horse less useful to our native fellow-subjects. In
former days when a respectable person wished to make a journey, his
ladies travelled in bullock carts, while he himself with the other
males of the family rode; now he simply takes tickets for himself:
and his belongings from one station to another. It must be borne
in mind too, that the zemindar never uses. horses for agricultural
purposes. In the old days of course they were wanted for military
work, and now the custom of using bullocks is much too deeply
rooted to be overset by anythmg we can teach him for the next
century. But in spite of all these disadvantages, there are many
districts in India where the zamindars are fond of horses, and, if
encouraged judiciously, will continue to own mares and breed stock.:
Chief amongst these are the Rajputs who make the best owners and
breeders of all. Mussalmans in the N.-W. P., though fond of riding’
and sport, do not, in my experience, pay sufficient attention to their
dams and stock, and often feed them insufficiently. Amongst the
Goojurs we get many successful breeders, but the lowest class
Chumars, ete., are almost invariably bad owners. Many Sikhs and
Punjabi Mussulman are keen and do well; and of course the
Wuzuris, Brohois, and other Afghan tribes are born horseman
and know as much about practical equine matters in their own way
as we do.
In Bombay the Mahrattas, judging from their history, ought to be
102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
good men, but my experience of them in connection with breeding
is very limited.
6. Will horse growing pay better than grain or cotton growing ?
As already mentioned, when speaking of waste and pasture lands, the
export of wheat and cotton have increased enormously of late years.
This has militated considerably against breeding in many districts:
Formerly where one might easily find fifteen or twenty mares im a
village, now none or only one or two exist; the reason being that
more money is to be made out of grain, cotton, etc., than out of
horse rearing. The zamindar, alive to his own interests, sells his
mares and puts his money into bullocks, well digging, ete., to raise
what willpay him best. If we could induce him to use his mares inthe
plough, in drawing water for irrigation, etc., etc., instead of his non-
productive bullocks, an immense step would be taken in the right
direction. For various reasons, the chief of which is his intense
conservatism, nothing will persuade him to do this. There we have
one of the many difficulties to be contended with in India. The
zamindar keeps his mare simply to breed from, and with the excep-
tion of leading her in a wedding procession, or, occasionally riding
her at a walk from one village to another, never uses her. So, the
sale of her produce has to cover the expenses of her keep and leave
a margin of profit. As long as grass costs nothing and grain but
little, this was all very well, but now there is barely sufficient fodder
to be got off the land for the plough-bullocks and grass must be
bought. Grain too has gone up in price. Thus, as the mare does
nothing for her own keep, she becomes an expensive luxury instead
of a remunerative animal. If her produce does not sell for a good
price, dies, or she slinks ‘a few times, she becomes ruinous and is’
disposed of, and the zamindar, finding he has: lost money, is very
chary of speculating in the breeding line again.
Selection of Breeding Districts—Having now shown some of the
difficulties which have to be contended with when breeding on a
large scale in this country, I will proceed to give my own ideas of
how such difficulties are to be overcome.
Our object is to increase the bone, substance, and height of Indian
stock, in order to meet Army requirements, and the wants of the
general public, who now have to invest largely in Australians to get
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA. 103
the stamp of horse they desire. To do this we must have big, roomy,
pure bred mares, and plenty of them. These can only be obtained,
in my opinion, by selecting districts where the soil and climate are
favourable, fodder cheap, and zamindars can afford to feed the young
stock well. In such districts place Norfolk Trotters and no other
class; get mares by continued perseverance with this stallion as
closely resembling him as you can. The colts of such stock will go
to Field Artillery, or if not high enough for the modern gunner’s
idea of a draught horse, the Calcutta, Lahore, and Bombay Tram-
ways, and the public will buy them as fast as they are bred. The
horse being a polygamous animal, we are always sure to have, when
breeding on a large scale, a preponderance of filly stock. As far as
possible have your Norfolk Trotter Districts together, and bear
in mind that you do net want remounts from them, but brood
mares.
In the districts round your Norfolk Trotter centre place your
Thorough-breds and your largest and finest Arabs, putting them to
mares obtained from the Norfolk Trotter centre. This cross will give
you your remounts and general utility horses, but do not breed from
them. Refuse all fillies that are not pure bred Norfolk Trotter for
brood. In the outlying districts where fodder is scarce, the people
poor and yet “horsey”’ in their tastes, place your Arab. He will get
from the little country mare polo and racing ponies or Native
Cavalry Remounts and at the worst, good transport ponies and mares
who will breed fine mules if put to big European donkeys.
I am perfectly aware that breeding on a small scale is conducted
in a very different manner; that each mare is selected to.match and
nick with a particular stallion. That good qualities in the dam
should be accentuated by mating with a stallion also possessing them
to a marked degree. That defects should be eradicated if possible
by mating with excellencies of the opposite type. But, when
thousands of mares and hundreds of stallions have to be dealt with,
we must follow a general idea. The business must be worked on a
large scale, and a certain percentage of failures, mistakes, and.
disappointments must be allowed for and taken as inevitable. But
until some plan of this sort is adopted and steadily persevered in, I
feel convinced we shall meet with nothing but failure. Breeding
104 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY. SOCIETY, 1892.
mongrels on a hit or miss method will result in waste of money,
. time and discredit to those who work it, be they Government officials,
Native Princes, or private individuals.
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES.
By W. E. Hart.
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 5th April, 1892.)
From the frequency with which it is reverted to in the pages of
the Journal, the subject of protective resemblances in the insect
world would appear to be a very fascinating one. In the ease with
which it seems to fit into the doctrine of evolution, and the wide field
it opens to interesting speculation, those who treat of it will, no
doubt, be found in danger of being led into the extremes humorously
noticed by “Eha” in one of his amusing contributions to the Times
of India as “A naturalist on the Prowl.” At the same time, he
seems to me rather hard on those even of the extremest opinions.
As I understand them, none go the length of suggesting any
volition on the part of the mimic in the selection of a protected type
for imitation. The perpetuation of the likeness is involuntary and
brought about, not by selection, but by the fact that those members
of an unprotected species which resemble the members of a protected
one, have, in that resemblance, an advantage in the struggle for
existence,which will be an advantage to the species in proportion as
it is transmitted from one generation to another. The perpetuation
of the likeness is, therefore, a process of evolution.
Nor does it seem to be insisted on, even by those who most strongly
insist on the value of protective resemblances as a means for securing
the perpetuation of an unprotected species, that the likeness between
it and a protected one is necessarily always an dnitation, in the
strictest sense of the word. It is true such expressions as “‘imitate”
and “mimic,” are very commonly used, but often, I think in a
figurative rather than a literal sense, merely because they concisely
and conveniently express the resemblance between an unprotected
“species and a protected one, but without any intentional suggestion
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES. 105
that each may not independently have arrived, by the process of
evolution, at the establishment of a similar typical feature which has
proved useful to each in the struggle for existence. A resemblance
will thus be found between them, though neither can in strictness
be said to imitate the other.
In this connection, I wish to describe a very curious likeness not
only in appearance but behaviour, which has come under my notice
between two harmless caterpillars and a venomous snake. It suggests
several questions of interest, possibly of importance, but their
solution must be left to wiser heads than mine.
Among the inmates of our “ caterpillar farm” described at p.. 277
of the fourth Vol. of the Journal, was a large Geometra (“ loofer ”’)
caterpillar, given to us by our Honorary Secretary, in whose com-
pound on Cumballa Hill it had been found. It was then fully three
inches long, and nearly as thick as my little finger, of a very dark
brown, almost black colour, with the exception of a large irregular
Y-shaped patch of a dirty yellowish-white near the tail end. This,
when the creature’s back was “looped”’ in its characteristic manner,
gave it the appearance of a cobra, erect, with expanded hood, in act
to strike. From the shape and position of the markings, this like-
ness was only perceptible from behind. But to an enemy meditating
an attack from the rear it would be so striking as to cause an invol-
untary pause, during which the caterpillar, hurrying in the other
direction, could easily increase its distance, if not altogether effect
its escape. That this was the use of the resemblance was clear from
the fact that the caterpillar always assumed what Weissmann calls
its ‘terrifying attitude ”’ when annoyed or startled, as, for instance,
by having its tail tickled with a straw, or the floor of the cage sud-
denly tapped. .
This specimen was of very vagrant habits, constantly effecting its
escape from the cage in a mysterious way, and turning up in un-
expected places at a distance from it. Possibly its activity was due
to hunger, for we did not know, and could not discover its food
plant, and it would not touch any of the numerous leaves which
we supplied in the hope of tempting its appetite. At last it
disappeared, and was only found again long afterwards behind
the wainscotting, when it was what Mr. Mantalini would describe
14
106 JOURNAL BOMBAY, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
> we therefore failed to raise a moth from
it, and so were unable to determine its species.
as an “unpleasant body, ’
In the other specimen the likeness to a cobra was even stronger.
This also was a Geometra caterpillar, of about the same size as that
just described, which we found in August, 1890, at Nasik, feeding on
a species of Evolvulus, that small creeping herb with bright blue
flowers, like a tiny Convolvulus, which grows commonly in spreading
tufts on rocky ground during the rains in Bombay. Its markings
were at the head end, and gave it when “looped” exactly the
appearance, from the front, of a cobra reared in act to strike. Not
only so, but if the annoyance which caused it to assume the “ terri-
fying attitude” was continued, it actually did strike, though of
course quite innocuously, exactly like a cobra, in the direction of
its assailant, turning for the purpose to the side or rear and with
such hearty good will as sometimes to over-reach itself and fall
prone. I frequently tested it, sometimes with so uninviting a
subject for attack as the toe of my boot, and never failed to “‘ geta
rise out of it.”
Unfortunately this specimen was lost on its way down to Bombay
before it had turned into a chrysalis, so in this instance also we
failed to determine the species.
Now these are to my mind two very interesting cases, well worthy
of further consideration. In the first place, it will be noticed that
the one first described uses its likeness to a venomous snake for the
purpose of making an opportunity to avoid its assailant; but the one
last described, though evidently belonging to a closely allied species,
uses a very similar likeness for the purpose of making its assailant
avoid it.
In the next place, it will be observed that in the latter case the
likeness is more complete, not only in appearance, but in conduct.
Then comes the question, Whence the likeness? Is it because it
has proved of use to the caterpillar to be like a cobra; or is it because
it has proved of use both to cobra and caterpillar that a “ creeping
thing” should be able to suddenly assume an erect atid minatory
attitude with expanded crest and spectacled head?
Lf the former is the true answer, we are met with the difficulty
that, for the likeness to be of any general use to the caterpillar, the
REVIEW. 107
creatures to be terrified thereby must be assumed to be capable, not
only of remembering, but of communicating to others, their experi-
ences in regard to cobras, and these others of understanding and
remembering such communications.
If the latter is the true answer, we avoid this difficulty, but are
met with another, viz., that the conduct of the caterpillar secondly
described, in actually striking like a snake at its assailant, though
powerless thereby to injure him, is more consistent with the theory
involved in the first question than the second.
REVIEW.*
Mr. W. T. Buanrorp and the Secretary of State (tet the former
have precedence on his own ‘‘midden”) have sent the Indian
Empire a New Year’s gift of the present volume—for a consideration.
They call it a “part,” but we prefer when a book is published in
two volumes at an interval of 3} years, to call them volumes. Be
that as it may, Mr. Blanford’s ‘Mammalia of India” is now a
complete work; and is, and must be for many a year to come, the
standard work upon the subject.
In a preface, hibernically placed at the caudal extremity of the
volume, Mr. Blanford points out that six of seven “volumes in which
it was originally proposed to describe the Vertebrata of British India
have been completed.”? He adds that three volumes on Moths, by
Mr. G. F. Hampson, are to be added to these on Vertebrata ; which is
very good news, and recommends Mr. P. L. Sclater to the public
for having recommended him (Mr. Blanford) to the Secretary of
State, which was, perhaps, superfluous in both cases. Both gentlemen -
have reputations which are, or might be thought be, to above the
need of “mutual admiration.”
The volume now under Review begins with the Bats, and at their -
head is our eminent friend the Flying-Fox, who is favoured with
several vernacular names that would make a Brahman Quintilian
* FauNA oF BRITISH INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON anp Burma. [Why not Afghanistan
and Beluchistan? | Published under the authority of the Secretary of State for
India in Council. Edited by W. T. Blanford, F.B.S. Mammalia; by W. 'T. Blanford,
F.RS. Part IL, Price 10s.
Lonpon:—Taylor and Francis. ieee omen Spink & Co. Bompay :—=
Thacker & Co.
108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
stare and gasp. “ Warbagul,” for instance, is not Marathi for a flying-
fox or anything else. ‘‘ Waghul,”’ im that language is a bat, and
‘‘Wadh” a banyan tree, and ‘‘Wadh-Waghil” or “ Banyan-bat”
is a flying-fox, because it affects the banyan tree for board
and lodging. 3
‘‘Tickell” (says Mr. Blanford in a note) ‘‘notices their preference
for tamarind trees, and I think he is right. In Bengal, they
sometimes remain on bamboos.” One would rather like to know
whether they “remain on bamboos”’ any longer than on tamarinds.
But as a matter of fact, if a particular grove or tree suits the bats
from position, they will roost there, perfectly indifferent as to species
and foliage, provided it is not thorny. They can’t abear thorns,
because, in flapping and scrambling about the trees, their wings are
in frequent contact with the branches.
Harly British Administrators in the Ratnagiri District were
perplexed at finding certain Banyan trees assessed as Undi trees
(Calophylium Inophyllum) whereof the stone of the fruit yields
a marketable oil. The reason was that flying-foxes haunted the
banyans, and dropped on the ground below the undigested Undi
stones, whereof they had converted the pulp into living bat. The
owner of the Banyan tree hereby got more Undi nuts from his Banyan
treo than the original owner of the Undis; but the Maratha tax-
gatherer was keen enough to find that out. Mr. Blanford, though
he notices that ‘the trees on which the bats perch are frequently
injured,” takes no notice of the fact that these brutes are a scourge
to all orchards of every sort.
They infest even toddy palms (and other palms tapped for juice),
but do not drink the toddy in the pots. What they do is to chew
the flower stem on tap.
Our author notices the yarn about these bats fishing, and thinks
himself that they skim the water to drink, which is probable enough
as they only do so at starting in the evening, when they have been
without food or water for many hours, and do not do it on salt water.
The fishing hypothesis is not so absurd as it looks. One of the
South American carnivorous bats has been fairly convicted of catch-
ing fish by a very similar action, and this volume records one case
“of ichthyophagy in the Indian Vampire, Megaderma lyra. Some
REVIEW, . 109
naturalists, moreover, hold the flying-foxes to be not altogether
Brahmans in diet.
The English nomenclature of the bats is unhappy. It is very
inconvenient to any man who has any sense of Greek to find that
the ‘“Horse-Shoe Bats” are quite a different set of creatures from
the genus Hipposideros, or as our author (who delights in breaking
Priscian’s head) writes Hipposiderus.
We want to know more about bats. The best shikar to be had
out of them is as follows :—Get a foil (nothing else is fine enough)
and go for that bat when he comes into your room o’ nights, He
dodges landing nets and defies the clumsy bamboo; but the foil is
too fine and smart for him. It’s equal to pig-sticking. If he can’t
rip, he can fly in your face, and does.
If you walk into a Buddhist cave at midday with a bamboo, or a
besom, or anything else, you can generally get bats by swiping
into the brown of them, but this is less artistic.
On the whole, observation of their habits is more wanted than
specimens, but of course one must identify.
After the bats come the Rodents. Pteromys ‘‘Philippensis”’ is
very properly discarded for P. Oral, for the same reason as Ursus
tibetanus in the last volume, viz., that although the name has
priority, it has not got accuracy, the flying squirrel in question not
existing in the Philippines. (Osi sic omnia), ‘‘ Bombay skins are
said by Sterndale to be grey.” They are grey; from Khandesh to
to Kanara. “Bus.” ;
It was to be expected that a lot of our big red squirrels would be
clubbed under Sctwrus Indicus. But it is not clear why nothing is
said of the mamme in this species, and great stress laid upon their
being “6, all inguinal” in the next, S. bicolor, This oddity runs
through the whole set of squirrel descriptions. It may be presumed
that Mr. Blanford’s authorities and specimens don’t usually show
the number of mamme; in which case any gentleman reading this,
and getting a female squirrel, might do well to note the same in
this Journal.
Our author doubts the specific distinction of S. palmarum and
S. tristriatus but retains it, and notes (correcting Jerdon), that the
_ former is often seen on palms. Jerdon, perhaps, never had occasion
110 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
to live ina palm-garden. Sciwrus Palmarumis.a pest to the owners
of such gardens. But, on the palm, it is excessively shy, and sticks
to the crown; because the barestem gives no protection against birds
of prey. Now it is hard to observe any creature so small in the
crown of a palm tree, without one is a toddy-drawer, and comes to
close quarters with the ‘‘common or garden squirrel.”
The Rats, of course, require much notice. But with all due res-
pect the Indian gerbille is not always “thoroughly nocturnal,” and
very rarely seen outside its hole by daylight. In some cases it
accustoms itself to man very well; and the present writer admired a
colony in a railway cutting just outside a station which came
out and admired him, and a whole trainful of other featherless
bipeds with the coolness of London sparrows.
Our author notices this boldness in the other gerbilles, and it is
probably a question of circumstances with all of them, as with most
other creatures that have any sense at all.
About the Porcupines there is httle uew to say, except that the
proper Maratha name is Sail; and that Hystriw lewcura is the very best
wild meat of all beasts of Western India. Both of which may go
down for marginal notes upon our copies of the volume under
review. The strange form of tail quill which receives a special
illustration at p. 446, as normal with Atherura macrura, sometimes
occurs in Hystrix leucura, but is less developed.
About the Hares, the most important thing to note is that the
frontiers of Lepus Ruficaudatus and L. Nigricoilis, in our own
presidency, are not yet “scientific frontiers,” which is not credit-
able to us. They are probably not far from the latitude of Bombay
or a trifle north of it in the Konkan and south of it in the Deccan.
Tf anything this boundary is too far north, there must be a
debatable land: as there is no boundary that would stop a
hare either above or below the ghat. Nigricollis occurs north of the
Waitarna.
In the Proboscidea Mr. Blanford recognizes only one Asiatic:
Elephant. ‘The notice is rather meagre, but two passages are worth
transcribing: “the ankle joint or heel in the hind leg; corresponding
to the hock in other ungulates, is very little raised above the ground”
(he might have added “and inconspicuous’’) ; “and the only pace-
REVIEW, lil
of elephants is a walk, slow or quick, at time increased to a shuffing
ran. They are incapable of any motion resembling a gallop or of
the least jump.” Every man who is going to draw an elephant
and ought to learn these sentences by heart, albeit one is as incom-
plete the other as awkward as the elephant’s ‘shuffling run.’ Artists
usually draw elephants with hocks, and then reviewers correct
them and say that elephants “have no hocks.” Arcades ambo.
Tame elephants very rarely breed in India. A good observer told
the writer that he had witnessed their nuptials at Pauna in Bundel-
khand many years ago, which differed in no material point from
those of other quadrupeds. There are other (some very old) autho-
rities for this, and mahont lies to the contrary; now the mahout
is of all men the premier liar, and the close companionship of éle-
phants is, indeed, more corrupting than even that of the horse.
Whereof a tale of Bengal,—(Mr. Raikes’s, we think) Baxu, dealer
in elephants took several to a fair and sold all but one; and around
this sole survivor there walked an uncommonly shrewd-looking
one-eyed Rajput stranger examining him closely. “Sir,” said Baxa, ©
“T perceive that you area judge of elephants. You are also my
father and mother and a few other relations,—and what’s more I see
the Raja of Dustypore’s Diwan coming up to look at this elephant,
and if he buys him, you shall have 50 rupees.” The Diwan did buy
the elephant, and Baxu, who fancied that the stranger had detected
the ‘screw loose’ that had so long kept that elephant on his hands,
paid up, and said he, “Sir, I thought I knew how to ‘fake’ a
screwed elephant if any man in Hindustan does, but you are my
master. How did you find him out?” “My brother,’ quoth the
judge of elephants, as he put a ‘granny’ knot on the rupees in his
sash, ‘‘the truth is that I never saw an elephant before, and I was
seeking to discover which end of the brute was his head, and which
was his tail.”
Our tale is at this end for the present.
112 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
No. I.—NOTE ON ANGRACUM SESQUIPEDALE.
Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, on 26 January, 1892.)
The orchid which I exhibit to-night is an Angracum, anative of Madagascar ;
it has been in my possession about four years, and has flowered regularly every
season,
The Angracum belongs to the tribe Vande, and in some degree resembles
Aeridea, having, like them, the stems clothed with ever-green leathery distichous
foliage, which in some kinds is curved and graceful, while the flowers are pro-
duced in long racemes from the leaf axils. The flowers are characterised by
the spreading sepals and petals, and by the long slender spur to the lip. which
has a spreading entire or 3-lobed limb.
This particular species ‘‘ Angracum sesquipedale” is described by Williams
in his ‘‘ Manual on Orchids ” in the following terms :—
‘* A wonderful and noble plant of great beauty. It was brought to England
“by the late Rev. W. Ellis of Heddeslow from Madagascar, where he found it
“ crowing on trees. The stem is simple and rooting; the leaves close-set, dis<
“‘tichous, leathery, oblong, blunt and bilobed at the apex, keeled, and of a dark
‘“green colour. The flowers are of a clear ivory white and very large, a foot
‘across, with a greenish tail or spur from 12 to 18 inches in length hanging
‘* from the flower. The peduncles are axillary, and bear from one to four of these
‘‘ fragrant flowers, which are produced in November, December and January,
‘‘and last about 3 weeks in beauty. There are two varieties, one having larger
‘* flowers than the other.”
It is the smaller plant that I have shown this evening.
As regards the treatment of orchids generally, my experience is that in
Bombay they have to be protected from the sea-breeze and red dust. Dirt, of
course, to any orchid, is poison, and it is one of the trials of my life to see the
chota malli brushing the pathways next the orchid-house, raising a noble cloud
of dust, which settles lovingly and lastingly on the foliage of the orchids. A
prolonged course of this dusting is quite sufficient to kill any orchid. Clean-
liness in orchids is so much insisted on that in most manuals you will find
advice to readers to wash the foliage with sponge and soap.
Orchids require a fair amount of sun ; the ordinary Bombay fernery netting
seems to admit the right amount. Creepers growing over orchid-houses are, I
find, a mistake. Recently my orchids in one house were looking dull and
depressed and anything but healthy. The fellow-plant to the one exhibited
dropped its flowering stem, and I discovered that the creepers had grown so
thickly over the roof of the house as to obscure the sun’s rays. I at once had
the creepers cleared away and the plants have recovered.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 113
Wafer of course is essential. I water my plants once a day all the year
round except in the rains. Excess of water is liable to damage the plants, and
I find that bulbous orchids especially are liable to rot off in the rains. It is most
difficult to make the malli understand how to moderate the supply of water,
and also to syringe the orchids instead of watering them from a bucket. In
the hot weather the floor should he kept well damped. It will help your ferns
as much as your orchids, and in my experience this is most essential in all fern-
eries, especially where you cannot have artificial tanks in the houses.
There is a good deal also in selecting the right spot in which to place an
orchid in your fernery. This knowledge can only be obtained by carefully
watching the progress of your plants, and moving them about until the healthy
appearance and growth of your orchids indicate that they are in suitable
localities. As regards the method of growing orchids, I find as a general rule
they do best in pots with charcoal and brick or broken potsherds and a little
moss on the surface, especially in the hot-weather months. In the rains the
moss can be removed. Many orchids do well on slabs of teak, but when they
grow much they are too big for the wood and it is a troublesome task to remove
them. Terrestial orchids of course require the ordinary potting. Do not
attempt to grow hill orchids in Kombay. Barton-Groves writes :—“ It is use-
“less attempting to cultivate in the plains hill orchids which grow at an
“altitude above 2,000 ft. They will probably blossom the first season, but then
“either die off at once or dwindle away by degrees.”
Lastly, do not leave the charge of your orchids to your mali, for this will be
but to court failure. Orchid culture requires much patience and constant care
and attention, which only the madam sahib or sahih will give.
Bombay, 26th January, 1892, M, C. TURNER.
No. II.—*SEPTICAUMIA IN A DEER,
The case in question occurred in a young, tame, female deer that had been
bitten by a dog, The owner being ill, it was left to the care of native servants,
and was not properly attended to until 10 days after the injury had been
inflicted. When admitted to hospital on the 18th Noyember, there was a larga
wound on the near quarter, extending almost the whole length of the femur down
to the patella. The edges of the wound were deeply under-run, and the whole
was fly-blown, the triceps, external, vastus and ischio-tibialis muscles being in
a gangrenous condition and sloughing. There was also a deep ulcerated wound
at the back of the limb, about an inch above the point of the hock, and the
gastroenemius tendon was badly torn, a large portion afterwards slonghing
away. The wound was cleaned, the gangrenous portion of the skin and
muscles removed, the whole irrigated with corrosive sublimate solution, 1 in
ee eae ee ee
-* The above appeared in the Veterinary Journal for January, 1892,
15
114 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
1,000, and afterwards dressed with iodoform. On the 16th there was
considerable erysipelas of the whole of the tibial region. This was treated with
belladonna externally, and tine. ferr. perchlorid 4 minims, and pot. chlor.
4 grs. in a draught morning and evening. On the 18th all symptoms of
erysipelas had vanished, and the treatment was discontinued. The case did well
till the 20th, when the temperature rose to 103°8 with a muco-purulent discharge
from both nostrils. The animal was found dead at 6 a.m. on the 21st.
Post-mortem at 11 a.m., 21st November, 1891.
The body was well nourished. At the umbilicus a hard tumour was felt. On
dissection of the wound, the whole of the adjacent muscles were infiltrated with
minute abscesses. The sacrosciatic nerve was highly inflamed, and there was a
large clot in the popliteal vein. The inguinal lymphatic glands were highly
inflamed, and showed numerous points of puson section. The ilio-ccecal valve
was highly congested. The rumen showed four deep ulcers, with the character-
istic raised edges. The lungs showed old adhesions on both sides, but more
particularly on the right. Both lungs were in a gangrenous condition, and were
simply a mass of minute abscesses, especially the right one. The heart was
adherent to the pericardium, and both it and the endocardium had well marked
ecchymosis on them. The right side of the heart was almost filled up with a
large ante-mortem clot, that passed right through the auricular-ventricular
opening. The tumour felt at the umbilicus turned ont to be 6 hair calculi in the
rumen, that altogether weighed 33 ozs. There was an entire absence of the new:
mown hay smell that is so characteristic of septicaemia in the human being.
This case appears to show how little chance there is of deer livmg that have
been wounded and escape into the jungle, and how, from motives of humanity,
sportsmen should refrain from firing ‘‘ Long” and ‘“‘ Snap-shots.”
J. A. NUNN,
Principal, Lahore Veterinary School.
No. III,.—A TUBICOLAR ANNELIDE.
On tke beach of Mahim—not the Bombay Mahim, but that 50 miles north
of it, best known as Kelvi Mahim—I came across an annelide worth describing,
as some one may identify it.
The tube was leathery, about 6 inches long, and one-sixth of an inch in
extreme diameter, of a dirty fleshy-white colour. About four and a half inches
of this tube were attached to the underside of a loose stone some 10 inches
by 6, and 3 inches thick; such a stone as one would think rather too big
to throw at a dog, but not too big to dash down upon any object which
might deserve that attention. This attached part of the tube was much
flattened to the stone and greatly contorted. The remainder was straight,
free, and cylindrical, bearing at its end at the surface of a tide-pool, wherein
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 115
the stone lay, the usual flower-like tuft of branchiee. These were not as
usual crimson or whitish, but of a very rich chestnut-colour. I watched
them for some time, and found them extremely sensitive to light. My
movements affected them but little, But on moving my stick so as to
bring a mere pencil of shadow (that of a steel point) across the branchiz, they
immediately retreated with a jerk into the tube. The stick itself was a foot
above the water, and no motion of it, or of my body, affected the action of the
annelide until the tiny shadow fell upon it with as sharp and instant effect as
that of red-hot iron.
This is a great neighbourhood for the tubicolar annelides. Serpula builds
reefs here that would not be a disgrace to some of the corals, and the sands are
full of the great sea-caddis (Terebelle).
In a general way, however, the beach is not rich, the most noticeable thing
(in the walk now recorded) was an immense number of small olive-gray
Aplysice, with white spots, apparently beached against their will, and dying.
Oddly enough, while observing these, my attention was attracted by the
sound of heavy rifled ordnance from Bombay; over 50 miles away, and not
up wind either.
KESWAL,
No. IV.—“ ST. BRANDAN’S ISLE.”
It is a trifle hard to say whether a meteorological phenomenon comes within
our scope or not.
At any rate, on the 11th February, 1892, there was visible from Mahim
Fort, Tanna district, an unusually distinct appearance of the “‘ Fata morgana,”
‘St. Brandan’s Isle,’’ or (as it is best known to sailors), ‘ Cape Flyaway.”’
West and North of West was a bank of clouds; unmistakeable enough, clear
of this, from W. by S. to W. S. W.,was a group of mountainous islands
apparently about 30 miles away ; but clearly reflecting the coast ranges behind
us, distant from our backs, the nearest about 8 miles in a straight line, the
farthest, perhaps 20.
I called up two boatmen, who spontaneously remarked the identity of the
apparent island with the hills to the east. They had no knowledge of any
legend about such things, but thought them a sign of doubtful weather. There
was no inversion of anything.
No. V.—SPORT IN THE ISLAND OF KARATIVOE.*
Off the North-west coast of Ceylon, and about a mile and a half from the
mainland, is a long narrow island called Karativoe, very little known, and of
almost no mercantile importance, its only merit in this sense being that it is, at
* The above appeared in The Field on 30th January, 1892,
116 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
certain times of the year; used ds fishirig statioti by the natives of the colotiy.
Excepting in the season, when the Singalese fishermen visit it to catch fish for
the purpose of drying and salting; it is wholly uninhabited, unless, indeed, it
be by afew Chinanien, who go thete to catch the sea-slug (called in Tamil
“ attai”’) which abounds on this part of the Ceylon coast. These slugs—iI do
tiot know their correct scientific nari¢—are large thitig's about 8 in. or 10 ii. in
length, black and sliniy, and of a most uninviting appearance when freshly
caught, but when boiled they shrivel up to very small dimensions, and lose a
preat deal of their repulsive look. I have never tried them, but they are
esteemed a great delicacy among the Celestials. But if the island is, in all
importarit respects, insignificant, it is; looked at froni the sportsman’s point of
view, 4 perfect paradise. Its entire length is abowt ten or eleven miles; and
its breadth at the widest part, which is at the north; about a mile: It is mostly
coniposed of loose sand, covered with scrub jungle and large mangrove swamps,
but there are a few gilades of coarse grass Here and there, and plenty of spiings
of excellent water: It siniply teems with deer; or did a few Years ago, when
I was shooting there. How they got there is somewhat a niystery. The
prevalent ideais that they were introdiiced by some old Dutch grandee
before the occupation of Ceylon by the English, and there is some colour to
this opinion, from the fact that there is 4 ruined old building on the island,
which may possibly have been a sort of shooting box in the time of the Dutch:
It was early in January when I made a solitary hunting trip there. I took
a native dhoney, arid sailed through the Calpentyn Lake and past Dutch Bay,
ind after a twenty=four hours’ run; reached the north of the island. At this
season there were fortunately for me, a large ttumber cf Sinigalese fishermen
there; they had their “ kottoos8”’ or huts all along the shore, and they proved
jrivaluable allies in driving the deer. These men were nearly all Roman
‘Catholics from the towns of Colombo and Negombo, and consequently had
no Buddhistic scruples about hunting or taking life; in facet, they were
very keen sportsmen, and very obliging fellows to boot. The golden plover
simply swarmed in many parts along the coast, and curlew, whimbrel, and
every description of waders were to be seen in great numbers about the shallows
of the lagoons, while large packs of wild fowl were floating about well out
of range from the shore. The grey partridges also were very plentiful, and
in the early morning and evening could be heard calling all over the place.
It should be understood that the west coast of the island faces the high sea,
but between the east coast and the mainland of Ceylon is one of those back-
Waters so dommon along the north-western coast; comparatively smooth,
and in tiany places very shallow, and it was here that the wild fowl, curlew,
&c., were to be found:
The first morning (Jan. 8) I tried stalling. The place is not very favourable
from it being very bushy, and having very little grazing ground in the open,
Any amount of fresh tracks of deer were to be found, and twice I found a small
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 117
herd but they were among the bushes, and only offered snap shots which
failed to do any execution. Coming home, or, more properly speaking, to the
boat, for we made it our camp, we saw four magnificent ducks in one of the
lagoons about 80 yards from the shore. They were a very rare kind, called in
Tamil ‘‘ chemboo-tara’? (copper duck), as large as a Brent goose, and of a
golden colour; hence the name. I tried to get near them, but they kept on
rising just out of shot and pitching a little further on, until at last I resolved
to try a shot with the rifle at them. The bullet appeared to pitch within an inch
of them, but clearly did tio damage, for they got up and flew out of sight, to
my great disappoititment. In the evening I again found deer, and bagged a
doe, atid had good sport with golden plover and whimbrel along the shores
of the lagoons,
Next day (Jan. 4) I persuaded a lot of the Singalese fishermen to come and
drive the jutgle for me, and they willingly complied, and proved capital
beaters. It was not at all easy shooting, for the bushes were very thick, and
the deer nearly always avoided crossing what open spaces there were. The
first chance I had was ut a grand buck, who galloped past me within 40 yards,
and I managed to miss him carefully with both barrels, but in the next two
- drives I was lucky, and bagged a buck and a doe. We were having the last
drive of the morning, atid a inagnificent buck, with a grand head, broke cover
some 50 yards from me and preseiited a side shot. I distinctly heard the bullet
strike, and saw the deer stagger, but he galloped on through a mangrove swamp,
and out on to the mid bordering the lagoon. He was going weakly, and I
ran after him as fast as I could, but it was very bad going, first in the loose
sand and then in the mud, and he got along way from me. He held on
through the mud, and then took to the water to swim across the lagoon, which
was about 150 yards wide. He presented a fine picttire, boldly striking out,
and every now and then turning his grand, antlered head, as if to look back
at his enemies. He was evidently making for some thick covert on the
opposite shore. I could not get very far out on the mud, but fired three shots
at him from Where I was. It Wasa long range, and I was shaking from my
run, and, of course, missed him. By good luck, however, there were two
or three fishermen on the opposite side, and they saw the buck swimming,
and one of them waded out into the shallows, and got up to the deer who was
nearly exhausted by his wound and long swim, and killed him with an oar.
He was afterwards brought over to me, and I found that my bullet had
struck him behind the shoulder but teo low down. It was satisfactory that he
should be brought to bag, rather than die a lingering death in the jungle.
This made our third deer—two bucks and a doe—and we considered that we
had had a good morning’s sport,
In the afternoon we beat for partridges. I had no dogs—they weuld not
have been of much use there, and would probably have been knocked up by
the sun, the heat being intense—but employed three of my boatmen to beat
118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
the bushes, while I kept a little ahead of them. It is very pretty shooting.
The birds are very much like the English ones about the back, but have dark
bars on the breast, and pink legs, armed, in the case of the cocks, with sharp
spurs half an inch long. They fly very well, though not quite so sharply as
the home bird. I have weighed a great many large individual birds, and have
often got an old cock of 15 oz.; but this is exceptional, the ordinary weight
being from 11 oz. to 13 oz. They are excellent eating, but owing to the
climate, cannot be hung long enough to get the true game flavour. We found
plenty of birds in the north of the island, and had excellent sport with them.
The white-headed fish eagle was very common. These grand birds often
measure over 6 ft. across the wings, and their strength of talon is wonderful.
I saw one do an extraordinary thing ; he pounced down on to the lagoon,
seized a good-sized fish, fully 3 Ib. and soared upwards with it in his talons.
He was some 90 yards or 100 yards distant, and I fired at him with the rifle.
The bullet no doubt whizzed close to him, for he gave a twist and dropped the
fish, but instantly he darted downwards again, and caught it almost as soon as
it touched the water, and bore it off.
On the followmg day (Jan. 5) we had another deer drive, and I bagged a
buck, missing two other chanees, and then we left the island and sailed across
the back water to the mainland. We landed at a place called Kutherai Mallee
(Horse Mountain). Why ‘‘ horse” I cannot say, but there is a small hill there
which is very remarkable, considering the unvarying flatness of the rest of the
coast. There was a miserable little hamlet in the neighbourhood, where there
were a few Tamils, and one of them undertook to show me a place where bears
came at night to drink. We found the fresh track of one bear near a small
pond, and I determined to watch there. This particular bear had a certain
notoriety about there, from the fact that he had a lame foot, as his track plainly
showed. The natives of the village spoke of him as “‘the cripple,” and I was
told that he had been shot at more than once.
It was not the best time of year for night shooting, being the wet monsoon,
but in this part of the island there is mever a very great abundance of standing
water; the sandy soil absorbs the rain almost as fast as it falls. It wasa good
moon, and we watched the pool through the night, but no bear appeared. In
the morning we went and examined another pool, about half a mile distant,
and found that our lame friend had paid it @ visit during the night : his peculiar
track could not be mistaken. We resolved to watch here in the night, and
placed pieces of newspaper on the bushes surrounding the other pool. This
was done with the idea that, if the bear went there, he would be frightened by
the appearance of the paper, and might possibly come to our pool: but as we
afterwards found, he never went there at all. It was about 2 a.m. when we
heard the welcome rustle in the jungle which told of the advent of bruin, and
when he came to the water he gave a splendid shot under the clear moonlight.
The bullet caught him well behind the shoulder; but, as is usually the case,
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 119
he bolted off yelling into the jungle. Inthe morning we found him lying
dead with a stick between his teeth, not more than 60 yards from the pool.
He was an old male, and one of his hind feet had been wounded in some way,
either by a bullet, or very likely in a fight with one of his kind. It was an old
wound, and had long since healed. At any rate, the foot had a clubbed
appearance, and accounted for the peculiar track which he left, which had
obtained for him the soubriquet of ‘‘ the cripple.”
JESSE.
No. VI.—A TIGER ATTACKING ELEPHANTS.*
I fancy that it is in the field that I have seen it stated more than once that
a tiger will not attack an elephant, or that, on the rare occasions when it does
venture to attack one of these huge brutes, it always gets the worst of
it. The following facts will, however, I think, help to disprove these statements :
—In September last, a timber contractor reported to me that a female elephant
and calf had been attacked by a tiger when they had been turned loose to
graze at the head-waters of one of the streams which rise in the Pegu Yomahs,
and that the calf had been killed. I hardly eredited the report at first ; but
on inquiry, J found that it was perfectly true. From the footprints it was
evident that the tiger had tackled the calf (a two-year old male) when it had
strayed from its mother. The mother had come to the rescue, but was unable
to do anything and only got badly mauled about the hind quarters, and was
apparently driven off ; the calf was killed, and found partly eaten the next day.
That night a row of spring spears was set by the Karens (who are very cute at
this sort of trap), and in the morning it was found that one of these had taken
effect and the tiger had gone off with about 5 ft. of it. The greater part of that
day the brute was heard in a large paing grass jungle, roaring, and evidently not
at all pleased with the 3 ft. of bamboo. The next that was heard of him, three
months later, was that he had lifted two bullocks from a Cutch camp, about
forty miles from the scene of his former exploits. Shortly after, another
attack on a contractor’s elephant was reported. It was evident, from the
marks on the ground, that the animal, which was a full-grown female, had
been caught when asleep ; and when I saw it a week afterwards it still had
drealful marks on the top of its showlders and in the centre of the back, which
could be the work of nothing else but a tiger. It is more than probable
that it was the same tiger which had killed the calf three months befere, for
he was evidently very lame, if not maimed, the marks of three feet being dis-
tinct, whilst only the claws of the fourth just touched the ground. The spear
had evidently nearly given him his quietus.
Four days afterwards a tiger tackled another elephant, this time a big
tusker, worth over Rs. 2,000, which died five days after. In this case it would
*
The above appeared in The Field on 13th February, 1892.
120 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
appear that the elephant was in a narrow and shallow nullah with steep
banks. The tiger jumped from the bank, and was shaken off more than once,
but returned to the charge again and again. The elephant, however, got off
with its life for the time being, and was taken into the nearest village with
dreadful wounds along nearly the whole length of its back, the points where
the tiger had apparently concentrated his attacks being the backbone about
a foot in front of the root of the tail.
The tiger, I am sorry to say, is still at large ; the Europeans in the district are
all officials, and are too hard-worked to spare time for a tiger hunt; whilst
a party of Burman shikarries who have gone out, “urged on by the offer of a
reward, have as yet had no luck.
G. Q. CorBETT, Deputy Conservator of Forests.
Thanawaddy, Lower Burma.
PROCEEDINGS.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING HELD ON.26tH JANUARY, 1895,
The usual monthly meeting of the members took place on Tuesday, the 26th
January, Dr. G. A. Maconachie presiding.
The following gentlemen were elected members of the Society :—
His Highness the Gaekwar of Barolu, Captain H. BR. ‘Tufnell (Neemuch),
Lieutenant C. H. Ward (Fyzabad), Dr. Maneckjee Dossabhoy Cama (Bombay), Mr. W.
G. Wood (Naini Tal), Mr. ©. P. George (Secunderabad), Mr. Frank Field (Behar),
Dr. Nadershaw H. E. Sukhia (Bombay), Mr. G. J. Nicholls, B.C,S. (Benares),
Captain A. L. Hibbert, R.A. (Belgaum), Mr. A. V. Munro (Mooltan), Mr. N. D.
Glazebrook (Bombay), Mr. Mathew Loam, P.W.D. (Vizagapatam), Captain Meade
(Resident, Bhopal), Mr. Curreembhoy Ebrahim (Bombay), and Professor W. Il,
Sharp (Bombay).
CONTRIBUTIONS DURING DECEMBER, 1891.
Contribution. Description. Contributor.
2 Spotted Doves (alive). ...| Turtur suratensis .,,..... | Miss G. O'Neill.
2 Pin-tailed Sand Grouse) Pterocles alchata ...........| Mr. W. Cumming.
(alive).
1 Torpedo Fish .......,,......| Narcine timlei ..........,.--.| Mr. Ardeshir Dadabhoy,
1 Panther’s Skin .......,.....| Felis pardus ........0.,...+«..| Mr. R. 8. Gupte.
1 Bird’s Skeleton .........-..| Erithacus rubecula .........] Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.
2 Red-Crested Wood-Quails} Rollulus roulroul ...,,,......| Purchased.
(alive).
2 Bronze-Winged Doves] Chalcophaps indica ......... Do.
(alive).
PROCEEDINGS. 121
Contribution. Description. Contributor.
3 Bird-eating Spiders) Mygale fusciatus ........... | Mr. H. RB. P. Carter.
(alive).
1 = of the Crested) Podiceps cristatus .........| Mr. H. Bulkley.
rebe.
1 Egg of do. va Hrom) Kibarar hora wives se Do.
1 Egg of Bustard .. ...| Eupodotis edwardsi ......... Do.
1 Hight- -Legged Puppy ...| Canis familiaris ..............-| Miss Hale.
24 Birds’ Skins ....... ...| From Central Provinces ...| Mr. N. 8. Symons.
1 Jungle Cat .. ..eeeee| Felix chaus.. “epee Do.
1 Kingfisher (ative). cHOon Halcyon smyrnensis bea ce Captain Mitchell.
1 Bittern ..............ee00+..| Botaurus stellaris ,...........| Mr. W. Murray.
1 Cobra. ....cc.00 . essseeees «| Naga tripudians ...........-| Major Gerald Martin.
MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS.
From Colonel K. Mackenzie, Mr. W. Shipp, Captain Shopland, and Mr. V. H
Pathare.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.
“ Catalogue of the Dipterous Insects of the Orienta] Region ” (Bigot), from the
Author; “La Nature,” for 1890-91, from Dr. W. Dymock; ‘‘The Indian Forester ”
—No. 12, in exchange; “A Monograph of the Oriental Cicadide”’ (Distant), Part
IV., in exchange ; “ Indian Museum Notes,” Vol. II., in exchange; “The Fauna of
British India—Mammalia,” Part IL, (Blandford), from the Author. ‘North Ame-
rican Fauna,’’ No, 5, in exchange,
THE CRESTED GREBE.
Special attention was drawn to the skin and egg of the Crested Grebe received
from Mr. H. Bulkley, of Kharaghora, where the bird was found breeding in August
last. This is the first instance on record of the Crested Grebe having been found
nesting in India.
AN EXHIBIT.
Mr. M. C. Turner exhibited a beautiful specimen of a large white orchid (Angra-
cum sesquipedate), from Madagascar, which was greatly admired, and read a short
paper on the difficulties which attend the successful culture of orchids in Bombay.
THE MAMMALIA OF SOMALI-LAND.
The Honorary Secretary read the continuation of Mr. J. D, Inverarity’s interesting
paper on Somali-Land, containing an account of his two sporting tours in that
country.
The following papers werealso read :—‘‘ The Protection of Game in Sind,” by W. §
Wexton. “The Butterflies of Travancore,’ by H. 8. Ferguson, F.L.S. ‘ Note on
Cassia grandis and Cassia marginata,” by G. M. Woodrow. ‘“ Branching Palms and
Tree-Ferns,” by L. de Nicéville. “ The Protection of Larve,”’ by E. H. Aitken.
Doctor Maconachie proposed a vote of thanks to the authors of the various papers,
and the meeting then ended.
Qy6
Y
:
;
;
122 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING HELD ON ist MARCH, 1892.
The usual monthly meeting of the members of this Society was held on Tuesday
the Ist March, 1892. Mr. Andrew Murray presiding.
The following new members were elected :— Captain C. H. R. Browne, P.W.D.
(Bombay), Captain G. H. Loch, Looshai Hills (Cachar) ; Mr. ®. M. Thomagop
(Sheogarh) ; Mr. E. E. Fernandez (Baroda) ; and Dr. Dhargalker Luxmon (Bombay).
The following contributions were acknowledged :—
CONTRIBUTIONS DURING FEBRUARY, 1892.
Aan ee
Contribution. Description. Contributor.
eS NT aR ee SE a
1 Owl (alive) ...... Strix javanica ..............| Miss Atkinson,
1 Brown Flying “Squirrel Pteromys oral .......0+...++.| Mr. J. David.
(alive).
1 Green Tree Snake .........| Dryophis mycterizans ......| Dr. T. S. Weir.
1 Poreupine’s Skull............| Hystrix lemcura....ecccesestes] nee tee ene eee
Deer’s Horns .... sess «|| RUCECLVUS CLG soe .ces.e renee sounaanoones
2 Sarus Crane’s Bees reehen Grus antigone ...............| Capt. A. Gwyn.
1 Snake ...... weeeeee| Lycodon aulicus ........-.| Mr. ©. H. Kane.
MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS
From Mr. G. Owen Dunn, Mr. C. J. Michael, Mr. J. Benjamin, Mra. Aston, Veteri-
nary Captain J. Mills, and Captain A. Gwyn.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.
‘“‘The Fauna of British India (Blandford) Mammalia,” Vol. Il., from Mr. W. F.
Sinclair, C.S. ; and “ Phamacographia Indica,” Part V. (Dymock), from the author.
EXHIBITS.
The Hon'ble Mr, Justice Birdwood exhibited a fine specimen of Glowinia grown in
Bombay, and Mr. M. C. Turner sent two beautiful orchids in flowers, viz., Phalco-
nopsis schille :ana and endrobium aggregatum, which were much admired.
THE ACCOUNTS FOR 1891.
The Accounts of the Society for the year ending 31st December, 1891, were laid
before the meeting by the Honorary Treasurer, Mr. Andrew Murray. The total
expenditure during the year amounted to Rs. 8,932 (out of which Rs, 4,316 were
spent on the Journal), and a balance of Rs. 1,454 was carried forward.
The Accounts were passed subject to the usual audit, and a vote of thanks was
passed to the Honorary Treasurer.
LANDSCAPE GARDENING IN NATIVE STATES.
The Honorary Secretary read an interesting paper on the above subject, by Mr. H.
St. John Jackson, of Allahabad, containing descriptions of the gardens which had
been laid out at Jeypore, Gwalior, Oodeypoore, Durbhunga, and other places. The
paper appeared in No. IV., Vol. VL, of the Journal.
PROCEEDINGS. 123
DISEASES OF FIG TREKS.
Dr. J. C. Lisboa then delivered a lecture on what appears to be an hereditary
disease of the branches and leaves of the fig-tree known as the Pipree (Ficus tsiela)..
This tree occurs in large numbers on the road between Poona and Mahableshwar, and
those who have travelled along that road must have noticed a curious phenomenon
presented by the tree. From its branches may here and there be seen hanging
large green balls, like Chinese lanterns. They are composed entirely of numerous
small leaves, thickly congested on small branchlets, which are also numerous and
congested on larger branches. As seen froma distance one is apt to infer that the
leaves have been brought together either by spiders or red ants, but closer examina-
tion, shows that the leaves are free, and that the appearance is due to the innumerable
short branches shooting out in close proximity to one another and bearing small
closely imbricated leaves. The branch of the tree thus affected gradually dies. The
lecturer stated that these abnormalities were, in his opinion, due to an hereditary
disease, and were not caused by either a fungus or by insects.
A vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Lisboa for hig valuable lecture, which was
illustrated by means of photographs and specimens.
124
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Bombay Aatural History Society.
LIST OF OFFICE<~BEARERS.
President.
H. E. the Right Honorable Lorp Harris.
Vice- Presidents.
Dr. D. MacDonald, m.p., B.s.c., 0.M.
The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, M.A., LL.M. (Cantab).
Dr. G. A. Maconachie, M.v., ¢.M.
Hon. Seeretary.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, ¢.M.z.8.
How. Crensurer.
Mr. Andrew Murray.
Evitor.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, ¢.mM.z.s.
Managing Committee.
The Hon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood. Mr. W. F. Sinclair, c.s.
Dr. G. A. Maconachie. Mrs. W. E. Hart.
Dr. D. MacDonald. Major W. 8. Bisset, R.H,
Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s. Lieut. H. E. Barnes.
Rev. F. Dreckmann, s.J. Mr. J. C. Anderson.
Dr. T. S. Weir. Mr. EH. L. Barton.
Dr. Kirtikar. Mr. Reginald Gilbert.
Mr. J. D. Inverarity. Mr. R. M. Branson.
Mr. W. 8. Millard. Mr. G. Carstensen.
Mr. Andrew Murray, ew-officio.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, ew-officto.
Ist Section.—(Mammals and Birds.)
President —Mr. J. D. Inverarity.
Secretary—Lieut. H. EH. Barnes.
2nd Section.—(Reptiles and Fishes.)
President— Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s.
Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, ¢.M.z.s,
3rd Section.—(Insects.)
President—Mr. L. de Nicéville, F.z.s., C.M.z.S.
Secretary—Mr. H. H. Aitken.
Ath Section.— (Other Invertebrata.)
President—Dr. G. A. Maconachie, .D., o.m.
Secretary— Mr. J. C. Andersen.
5th Section.—( Botany.)
President—The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, M.A., LL.M. (Cantab.)
Secretary —Surgeon-Major K, R, Kirtikar, ¥.s.m. (France), M.B.c.s.
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OC ene eee BRIN TED aT,
_ EDUCATION SOCIELY’S PRESS,
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Se
Tur BuLButs oF Norte Cacuar. By E.C, Stuart Baker. Part IL.
(With 1 Plate) ....cccoccsccoccscrecsensocccesecsecsescorsessesscrsesserseseee 125
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MyRIOPODA SENT FROM CEYLON
py Mr. E, E. GREEN, AND FROM VARIOUS PaRTs OF SOUTHERN
Inpra BY Mr. Epcar THURSTON, OF THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL
Museum, Mapras. By R. I. Pocock, of the British (Nat. Hist.)
Museum. (With Plates I. and I1.) .....0.00 ates Sace ea ees concerteenl
Our Ants. By Robert Charles Wroughton, F..s., Deputy Conser-
vator of Forests, Poona. Part II, (With 2 Plates C and D) ... 174
Tir Porsonous PLants or Bompay. By Surgeon-Major K. R.
Kirtikar, I. M.S. Part II. (With Plate C) ..........sscasoacoeaes 203
THE BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD, WITH SOME NOTES
ON THEIR Hapits, Foop-Puants, &c. By Major J. W. Yerbury,
TRA F.Z.8., F.E.S., eorceacaco Be cos0e 2 8800 0A@22G0000 CO coro08 @P@eceevoearcors ee 207
Les Formicipes DE L’Empire DES InpEs ET DE CEYLAN. Par
Auguste Forel, Professeur a P'Université de Ziirich, Part I.
(With a Plate) ......2.0c0. 2. Brecran ss Sasbae Reccance tee scusties «tte anseaeie”
ee@eceo 000002 002000 007000000 0H 0220 0H 0000 0080 88H O00 90880088808 246
List or Breps’ Ecos. Presented to the Society by Mr. E. C. S.
Baker, of North Cachar, April 1892. SPeaeioaascauacluesvas vos te een
MiscELLANEOUs Notrs—
1.—A Frog swallowing a Snipe :
2.—Note on the Black-tailed Rock-Chat Eee er eerie & 252
3o.—Tigers eating their young
4,—Notes on the Thamin
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POLOOG-COGIO SORCHIOOS 00006800005 5998@0 CO0GGD0OG0LO 254
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6.—A Nest of King Cobra’s Eggs... els pe eR Re es a
5.—Geographical Distribution of the Pin-tailed ae tipe -
PROCEEDINGS. ......
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JOURNAL
OF THE
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dlatunal History Society.
No. 2.] BOMBAY, 1892. [Vol. VI.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR.
By HE. C. Sruart-BakeEr.
Part IT.
. (With 1 Plate. )
{ Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 4th July, 1892. )
OTOCOMPSA FLAVIVENTRIS.
BLACK-CRESTED YELLOW BuLBut.
Oates’ “ B. of B. B.,” Vol. I., No. 196, p. 199; id., “ Avifauna of
B.I.,” Vol. L, p. 278; Murray’s “ Avifauna of B.I.,” Vol. IL., p. 46;
Hume’s “ Nest and Eggs,” Vol. I., p. 183; Rubigula flaviventris,
Jerdon’s “ B. of India,” No. 456, Vol. II., p. 88.
Description.—Head, with long crest, chin and throat glossy
black; upper plumage and wing coverts olive-yellow, brighter on
the rump and upper tail-coverts; quill feathers of wing brown,
primaries and secondaries edged with olive-yellow on the outer webs,
and the tertiaries with all or nearly all the outer webs of that colour;
tail brown, the feathers for about nine-tenths of their length edged
with olive-yellow ; whole plumage below and sides of neck bright
King’s yellow.
17
196 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Irides bright pale yellow; bill dark horny, culmen and tip almost
black, and the gape dull yellowish ; legs brown or grey-brown.
Length 7-8 in. ; tail 3°5 in. ; wing 3:4 in. ; bill at front °5 in., from
gape °70 in.
Female, length 73 in. ; tail 3°3in. ; wing 3:2 in.
The female only differs from the male in having the yellow of the
lower plumage less bright, and in having the flanks tinged with
olive-green. ‘lhe young male cannot be distinguished from an
adult female.
Nivirication.—The nest of this bulbul can, as a rule, be distin-
guished at a glance from that of any other member of the family by
its colour and shape.
The first nest I ever saw was built in an old orange tree in my
garden. When found, it contained an egg, so that I cannot tell
what was the length of time taken in its construction, beyond
the fact that it took under twenty-five days, that being the time
I had been away in camp, and when I went out it had not been
commenced. It was a very neat nest, and for the size of the bird
very small. The outer part of the walls were composed entirely of
dead orange leaves, all these being of different tints of olive-yellow
and bright olive-brown, much the same colour, -as a whole, as the
upper plumage of the bird. These leaves were wound round and
interlaced by rather thick shreds of bark, one or two elastic twigs
and asingle stalk of some weed; in addition, it was further strength-
ened by cobwebs here and there all round. Inside this outer wall
was a rough lining of coarse grass stems, fine twigs, and fern roots,
and within this agaim was the true lining, consisting entirely of
mithna hair, easily recognized by its deep-purple tint. This nest
was in every way but one quite a typical specimen, the exception
being in the lining. This is, in nine cases out of ten, composed only
of the finer stems of tan-coloured grasses, whilst in the tenth case 1t
may be of fine moss roots or some other vegetable fibre.
As already remarked, this nest was rather smaller than usual.
The dimensions were as follows :—Diameter at broadest part 4 in. ;
at the top where there were no leaves 2°98 in., in depth 1°45 in.,
and internally 1°76 in. by *75 in. The contrast of the bright yellow
leaves with the green of the bush was very marked, and the nest
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CAOHAR. 127
could be seen from a long way off. A few nests are made chiefly of
coarse grass and twigs, only a few leaves being worked into the base,
and one or two nests, taken by me, have differed from the nests of
the common bulbul only in their smaller size, though even
in these the major part of the materials were light coloured.
the lining is generally very neatly made, the grass ends being
tucked carefully in, whereas in the nests of Blyth’s bulbul (Xanthirus
flavescens), the ends nearly always project from the nest a good
distance. The manner of putting in the lining is in fact the
principal difference in the nests of the two birds, though Blyth’s
bulbul seldom uses many leaves in the work of building.
The internal measurements of ten nests average 2°2 in. by °94 in.
The only two abnormal nests that I have taken were both found
in 1888; one wasa very shallow broad cup, not half an inch deep, and
made of grass, inside and out, and the second was an ordinary nest
as far as shape was concerned, but the whole lining and a great part
of the walls as well were composed of white goats’ hair. It was a most
remarkable looking nest, but being built on a bush with leaves
which were white on the lower surface, was far from conspicuous
whilst in its natural position. In about four nests out of seven the
interior lining is of fern roots and stalks of plants alone. The nest
is generally placed in a low bush at from two to five feet from the
ground, sometimes in rather higher bushes, and very rarely in small
trees. The site selected is, as far as I am aware, never one in dense
jungle; it prefers thin scrub jungle, scattered bushes, and even the
outskirts of villages and rice fields, but, with one exception, vzz.,
that in which the nest was built in my garden, I have never known
them to breed in compounds.
They lay three eggs as a rule, but sometimes four: I have never
seen five eggs in a nest, but have often seen two only, which shewed
signs of incubation.
The ground-colour of all my eggs is a faint pinky-white, varying
very little in intensity ; typically they are covered with numerous
freckles of dull reddish, underlying which are others of pale blue-
grey, which cause the general appearance of the egg to be a rather
dull purply tint. In some eggs there are a few exceedingly fine
lines the colour of clotted blood which are almost always confined
198 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, 1802.
to the larger half. The primary markings are generally fairly
equally distributed over the whole surface, but the secondary ones
are most numerous at the larger end.
TI have two very beautiful clutches in which the markings are all of
hght pmky red, almost obliterating the entire ground-colour.
Another clutch has the markings of dark reddish. They do not, takmg
a large number mto consideration, vary nearly as much as the eggs
of most bulbuls, and the character of the markings is very constant-
Thus in the hundreds of eggs I have seen, I have never seen one
which could, properly speaking, have been said to have been
blotched, though in some cases the markings are large enough to be
termed spots rather than specks or freckles. The main difference
im different specimens lies chiefly in the distribution of the mark-
ings rather than m their character, though even in this respect
I have never met with a very sparsely marked egg. }
In size, too, they differ but little, the extreme length and breadth
being *92 in. and -72, and the least °82 in- and *6l in. The average of
forty eggs is *87 in. by *66in. In shape they are either regular ovals,
or are drawn out and slightly pointed towards the smaller end.
Intermediate forms are common and exaggerated ones very rare.
The texture is the same as that of Molpastes pygeus or burmanicus,
but the shell is more fragile and perhaps smoother. I have no eggs
which exhibit any gloss, except the two pimk blotches above referred
to. They breed principally in May and June, but their egos may be
taken throughout more than half the year. My earliest eggs were
found on the 24th March, the next earliest on the 8th April, again
on the 21st, and then numbers until the end of July. On August
Ath I took two fresh eggs, on the 17th three more, and the latest
I have noted were found on the 3rd September.
This bulbul is almost as common, from the plains to nearly the
highest hills, as is M. burmanicus and pygeus. Above 4,000 feet
it gradually gets scarce, and is not to be found much over 5,000 feet.
They remain in the broken ground at the foot of the hills all the
year round, breeding in suitable places, such as tea gardens, &c. 1
have never seen this bird in the interior of heavy forest, seldom,
indeed, in forest of any sort, though it is often enough to be seen in
bamboo jungle. It keeps much to the semi-open ground im the
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 129
vicinity of villages, and may be observed on the banks of every
stream and the sides of every road.. The flocks are sometimes rather
numerous, having as many as twenty or twenty-five members, but
more frequently they number some ten or a dozen. They are by no
means noisy birds, and have no great variety of notes. Their cry
may be written weet-tre-trippy-wit, but I am afraid syllables
convey little meaning when attempting to record the notes of a bird,
and this cry is one almost impossible to explain. It has no song, at
least that can really be so called, but during the breeding season
this call is prolonged by the last two words being repeated, and when
the bird utters it rapidly it is like a jerky, but sweet, short song.
It frequently associates with both O, emeria and Molpastes bur-
manicus and M. bengalensis, more rarely with other species of
bulbuls, and on one or two occasions I have seen it in company
with Chloropsis.
In its general habits it resembles Otacompsa emeria too closely
to require further description. Its food, flight, &c., are all as in
that bird.
HyprsIPETES CONCOLOR.
Tue Burmase Biack Buievn.
Oates’ “ Avifauna of India,” Vol. I., p. 261; zd., “Birds of B.
Burmah,” Vol. I., p. 174; Murray’s ‘‘ Avifauna of B, India,” Vol. IT.,
p- 19; Hume’s Catalogue, No. 446 bis,
Duscription.—Head, hind neck, back, and lesser wing-coverts
black, the edges of the feathers more or less metallic and giving a
gloss to the whole upper black plumage when not very closely
viewed ; median and greater wing-coverts brownish-grey, quills
dark brown, almost black, edged with grey; rump and upper tail-
coverts dark grey; ear-coverts lightish-grey, contrasting strongly
with the colour which surrounds them. Lower part of cheeks,
throat, and whole lower plumage dark grey, the feathers of the
under tail-coverts margined with white, but much less broadly than
in H, psaroides. Tail brownish-black, the feathers edged with
greyish, the depth of this varying much in different individuals,
Nipirication.—Tkis does not differ in any important detail from that
of H. psaroides, but taking the nests as a class, I think they average
130 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
somewhat smaller, and certainly they appear neater. In all the nests
I have taken, a large amount of moss has been used in the construe-
tion, and one nest, which I took in May, 1892, at Hunerum,
(5,800 feet), was made entirely of this material, with the exception
of a few soft stems which were employed to bind the whole to the
tree, in conjunction with the usual amount of cobwebs.
I found this bird in 1891 breeding on the precipitous hills
surrounding the upper part of the valley of the Laishung River.
These hills, owing probably totheir great steepness, have but little
soil on them, with the exception of that which is washed by the
rains into deep crevices or into the numerous narrow ledges. In
such places a considerable amount of scrub jungle grows, inter-
spersed with numerous stunted trees, which seem to die early, for
two out of every three are dead and rotten. It was on these
dead trees that the birds had selected positions for their nests ; nor
were the branches selected those near the top or outside of the trees,
such as would be usually made use of, but all the three nests I
found were placed in the first bifurcation of the main trunk, and
were all within fifteen feet of the ground. As I was engaged at
the time in stalking serow I had to leave the nests alone, but a
native was sent a few days afterwards and found one nest still
empty and two containing two eggs each. The nest is generally
built in much the same kind of position as that of H. psaroides,
but, I think, more often on lower bushes.
The eggs are; of course, quite undistinguishable from those of the
other black bulbuls as far as coloration, shape, and texture go,
though the eggs I have taken average a shade larger. ‘The
eighteen eggs measured averaged 1-12 in. X °78 in,
The largest pair are abnormally large, measuring 1:24 in, X *81 in.
-Thave no others nearly this size, the next largest being 1:18 in. X ‘76 in.
The smallest egg is ‘97in. X *69in. I have taken one clutch of eggs
which differ much from any other eggs of either this species or
II. psaroides, the ground-colour is a rather warm pink, and the
markings consist of rather numerous bold blotches of bright red,
each spot being very well defined, and no two running together or
blurring one another’s edges by too close proximity; they are
singularly handsome eggs. F
‘“WAOdOIHYAW NVIGN! GNV ASANOTASRDO
USpUo'T UAL ouLotys) “SOT BPO s-lehb 8a \G
"09S “YSTIA VENT” QuULOg “UdITLOP
—
By
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Journ. Bomb. Net. Hist. Soc.
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Mintern Bros, hth.London.
CEYLONESE AND INDIAN MYRIOPODA.
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REPORT OCPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 131
As regards their habits I do not think I can say anything beyond
that they appear to be shier and somewhat less noisy birds than
their Himalayan relations. They seem to be partially migratory,
and during the cold season I have not seen half a dozen birds
in as many years. They are confined to the Hast and South-
Hast of the district, and, as I have already said, to a certain extent
replace H. psarordes in that part, though even there they are
less common than that bird is. I have never seen a bird further
West than the centre of the Sub-division, and only once as far as
that. Another thing that seems to point to their being more or
less migratory is that certain seasons they are more common than
in others. Thus in 1891 and 1889 they were very plentiful,
comparatively speaking, in 1888 and 1890 they were rarely met with,
and amongst my notes I have not one concerning auy bird or nest
taken in 1887,
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA
SENT FROM CEYLON BY Mr. E. E. GREEN, AND
FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF SOUTHERN INDIA
BY Mr. EDGAR THURSTON, OF THE
GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM,
MADRAS.
By R. I. Pocock, of the British (Nat. Hist.) Museum.
(With Plates I. and II.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 5th April, 1892.)
In seeking the honour of laying this paper before the Natural
History Society of Bombay, it has been my hope that from the
information thus afforded something, however little, is being done
to throw light upon Myriopod fauna of India, and that it may induce
naturalists resident in that country to pay attention to these little-
known animals.
The neglect that this group, as a whole, has met with, is a
circumstance sufficiently familiar at least to all who have studied it.
Nor is an explanation of this hard to find, for the species that com-
pose it are lacking in almost all those attributes which recommend
more favoured ones to the notice of collectors. They are difficult
132 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
to preserve, obscure in characters, and, doubtless to many, though
not, let us hope, to the majority, repulsive in aspect; with no
marketable value worth mentioning, and with little or nothing of
interest in their habits to attract the attention of naturalists. Add
to all this that the literature is scattered, that such species as have
been described are not as a rule recognisable from their descriptions,
and that the name of the species is legion, and we need look no
further for the causes of the fact that so small an amount of time
and trouble has been deveted to these creatures by systematic
zoologists.
The above remarks apply, however, most forcibly to the group of
Millipedes. The Chilopoda or Gentipedes are much fewer in number
of species, and such as have been described are now well-known.
But even in this group an enormous amount of new material must be
still undiscovered. Perhaps a rough estimate of the new forms,
likely to be obtained, may be gathered from the following figures :-—
Out of a collection of 33 species of Chilopoda amassed by Mr. Oates
and Signor L. Fea in Burma, 16 were new; while out of the
11 species that Mr. Thurston has sent home to the British Museum,
5 were new. This percentage is very large, and it could doubtless
be increased if special attention were paid to the smaller and more
obscure forms.
The average number of new species in Diplopoda would most
likely be higher. Mr. Thurston has been somewhat unfortunate in
only obtaining 3 new ones out of 11, while Mr. Green, on the
contrary, discovered 11 new species in a collection of 21, and without
especially laying himself out to get these animals, he has, apart
from the species, added two families and one genus to the Oriental
fauna, and one interesting new genus to science.
But in the present state of our knowledge of this group, the value
of a collection depends perhaps less upon the discovery of new forms
than upon the re-discovery of old ones. For what is now required
in the Myriopoda is that the species that have been poorly charac-
terised in past years should be brought again to. light; so that
opportunities may be afforded of re-describing them in accordance
with modern requirements or of figuring them so that they may
be readily recognised. For unless the species that have been
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 1338
characterised are known to an author, all work that he may do in the
description of new species is more or less groping in the dark. As
by slow degrees the old species are re-determined, so firmer and
firmer becomes the basis from which satisfactory work in the future
can be done. The described Indian and Ceylonese species are not
so many, but that with a little diligent collecting they may one and
all be found again. When this result is once attained, the working
out of the fauna will be tolerably plain sailing.
For these reasons it was far more gratifying to me, when exa-
mining Mr. Thurston’s collection, to discover examples referable to
species long buried in obscurity, than to be compelled to characterise
them all as species nove.
It was originally my intention to write separate reports upon the
two collections forming the subject-matter of the present paper; but
upon further consideration, seeing that so many of the species occur
both on the mainland and-in Ceylon, I have thought that it would be
more convenient both to my readers and to myself, if I treated the
two collections as a whole and wrote the one report for them both.
But to render the paper a still more complete record of Indian and
Ceylon Myriopoda, I have incorporated descriptions of other new
species from these countries.
To further the object which, as above expressed, I had in view in
sending this paper to an Indian Natural History Journal, I have
been asked to say a few introductory words upon the various kinds of
Myriopoda that are known from India and Ceylon. It has also been
suggested to me that a list of the described species might still further
forward the same object.
The so-called group Myriopoda is, with the exception of some
obscure forms, readily divisible into two sections—the Chilopoda or
Centipedes, and the Diplopoda or Millipedes.
The Chilopoda are carnivorous, active, flattened, more or less soft
animals with a single pair of legs attached to each somite. They are
divisible into four families, Scutigeride, Lithobiidee, Scolopendride, and
Geophiltide. The Scutigeride contains one genus, Scutigera, of which
only two Indian species are known. ‘This is an exceedingly long-
legged, swift-footed diurnal species, no examples of which were found in
either of the collections here discussed. The Lithobiide have not yet
18
134 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
been recorded from India or Ceylon; but doubtless the genus Litho-
bius exists in these countries, since two species of it have been
described from Burma. Any one who remembers the common English
centipede—the ‘forty-legs’ of some parts—found under almost every
stone in England, will know Zathobiws if he comes across it in India.
The Geophilide are the long, vermiform, subterranean centipedes, all
being of relatively small size, with legs varying im number from
about 40 up to over 100. Three species, referable to three genera,
have, so far, been recorded from India and Ceylon; but many
more undoubtedly remain to be discovered ; for Mr. Oates obtained
eight species in Burma. Two of the three known Indian
forms are recorded below; the third was on a previous occasion
sent by Mr. Thurston from Madras. The WScolopendride are
the best known members of the group. ‘They are mostly of large
or medium size, and have 21 (rarely 23) pairs of legs. The Indian’
and Ceylonese members of the group are referable to the genera
Scolopendra, Cormocephalus, Otostigma, Rhysida, (Branchiostoma),
and Heterostoma. The last two differ from the othersin having
a pair of stigmata onthe 7th somite. Heterostoma, recognisable from
Riysida by its large sieve-like stigmata, is of large size, approaching
in this respect Scolopendra; there are some five or six mostly ill-
defined species of this genus known from India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Rhysida, with two Indian species, both recorded below, is of small
size, and has stigmata that have been described as ‘ear-shaped.’
Otostigma is exactly like Rhysida except for the absence of stigmata
on the 7th somite. This is the most abundant genus in the Oriental
region—6 species having been recorded from Burma, 2 of them
occurring also in Ceylon, and 5 being known from India, 4 of them
having been sent by Mr. Thurston from Madras. Cormocephalus differs
from Otostigma in the structure of the head-plate, and im the more
elongate shape of its stigmata. Four species, all of small size, are
known from India and Ceylon. One of these is described below as
coming from Madras. Scolopendra differs from all the preceding
genera in having the head covering the anterior portion of the tergite
that succeeds it. There are only about 7 species known from Burma,
India, and Ceylon. The genus Cryptops, which is composed of small,
slender, somewhat geophilus-like, blind species, has not yet been
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 1385
recorded from Ceylon and India, although three species are known
from Burma; and the peculiar genus Asanada, with its single species,
occurs in Burma, and was originally recorded from Kulu in the
Western Himalayas.
The Diplopoda are herbivorous, slow-moving, usually cylindrical,
hard crustaceous animals, with two pairs of legs upon most of the
segments of the body. The Oriental families of this group are the
Polyxenide or hairy-tailed millipedes; the Zephroniide or pill milli-
pedes, the Polyzenide or suctorial millipedes, the Lysiopetalide, Tulidee,
and Polydesmide. The Polyxenide and Lysiopetalide are here for
the first time recorded as Indian or rather Ceylonese. The former
are quite unmistakable, and the affinities of the single-known genus of
the latter are given below. The Zephroniide cannot be confused
with the others, and the Polydesmide differ from the Iulide in having
only 20 segmentsin the body. Four of the genera of Polydesmide men-
tioned are hard to recognise and of doubtful value. In Leptodesmus the
tailis cylindrical ; in Paradesmus and Strongylosoma it is triangular and
truncate, Paradesmus having larger keels than Strongylosoma; while
Polydesmus has the dorsal surface sculptured. The form of the other
two genera is very peculiar, and is well shown in the plate at the begin-
ning of this paper. The two genera of [ulide are very much alike
externally. Spirobolus as a rule is shorter and stouter, with the man-
dibles more exposed at the sides, a differently constituted lower lip, and
the 4th and 5th segments cach with a single pair of legs; in Spiros-
treptus, on the other hand, the 4th segment is without legs, and the
5th has two pairs. TZrachyiulus may be recognised from both of
them by the peculiar arrangement of the eyes, the carinate or warty
segments of the body, &c.
List of the described species of Indian and Ceylonese Myriopoda :—
CLASS, DIPLOPODA.
Sup-ciass, PsELAPHOGNATHA.
Family, Polyxenide.
Polyxenus ceylonicus, sp. n. Ceylon (cf. infra, p. 142).
Sup-ciass, CHILOGNATHA.
Order, ONISCOMORPHA.
Family, Zephroniide.
186 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATUKAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Zephronia heterosticatica, Newport; brandti and inermis, Humbert
(cf. infra, pp. 145, 143, 144); zebraica, Butler (Ann. Nat. Hist., (4),
x, p. 356), Bombay ; marmorata, id. (Ann. Nat. Hist., (5), 1x, p. 197) ;
versicolor, White (Ann. Nat. Hist., (3), ii, p. 405), Ceylon; noticeps,
Butler (Ann. Nat. Hist., (4), x, p. 355), Ceylon ; pilifera, id. (loc, cit.,
p- 857), Ceylon; hercules, (Brandt), Ceylon (teste Karsch, Arch.
Naturg., 1881, p. 34); nigrinota, Butler (Ann. Nat. Hist., (4), x,
p- 356), Assam, Sikkim ; tumida, id. (Ann. Nat. Hist., (5), ix, p. 196),
N. Assam; tigrina, id. (op. cit., p. 856), Assam; excavata, id. (Ann.
Nat. Hist., (4), xiv, p. 185) ; maculata, id. (1. ¢., p. 186), Sikkim.
OrvER, HeLMINTHOMORPHA.
Family, Polydesmide.
Polydesmus stigma, Fabr. (Ent. Syst., 11, p. 394), Tranquehar,
(doubtless either a Leptodesmus, Strongylosoma, or Paradesmus).
Polydesmus (s. 8.) cognatus, Humbert (cf. infra, p. 158), Ceylon.
Paradesmus kelaarti (Humbert)(cf. infra, p. 149), Ceylon and Madras.
Leptodesmus luctuosus, Peters (Mon. Ak. Wiss. Berlin, 1864, p. 532) ;
saussuru, Humbert (Mem. Soc. Phys. Genéve, 1866, p. 26) ; thwaitesi,
id. (ef. infra, p. 147); dayardi, id. (p. 28); dnornatus, id. (cf. infra,
p. 147)—all from Ceylon; tanjoricus, sp.n. (cf. infra, p. 147), Tanjore:
Strongylosoma mietnert, Peters (op. cit., p. 5385), Ceylon ; skinneri
Humb. (op. cit., p. 31); simplex, id. (cf. infra, p- 149) ; cingalense, id.
(cf. infra, p. 150); greeni, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 149)—all from Ceylon .
phipsom, sp. n. (cf. infra, p.151), Caleutta; yerdani, sp. un. (ef. infra.
p. 152), Madras.
Cryptodesmus ceylonicus, sp. nu. (ef. infra, p. 153); greent, sp. n.
(cf. infra, p. 154), Ceylon.
Pyrgodesmus obscurus, g. et sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 155), Ceylon.
Family, Lysiopetahide.
Stemmiulus ceylonicus, sp. n. (cf. infra, p, 157), Ceylon.
Family, Lulide.
Trachywlus ceylonicus, Peters (cf. infra, p. 158).
Spirostreptus nigrolabiatus, Newport (cf. infra, p. 159), Madras ;
cinctatus, Newport (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xiii, p. 270); maculatus, id.,
ibid., India; malabaricus, Gervais (cf. infra, p. 158), Malabar;
spinicaudus, id. (Ins. Apt. p. 165), Malabar; fmelii, Humbert (Mem.
Soc. Phys. Genéve, 1866, p. 47) ; kandyanus, id., p. 49 ; lankaensis, id.,
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 137
p- 50; hamifer, id., p. 52 (cf. infra, p. 160) ; modestus, id., p. 583—all
Ceylon ; caudiculatus, Karsch (Zeits. Ges. Naturw., (3), vi, pp. 27, 28) ;
contemptus, id. (p. 29), Ceylon ; asthenes, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 161),
Madras; yerdant, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 161), Madras ; centrurus, sp. n.
(cf. infra, p. 162), Ceylon ; imsculptus, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 163), Ceylon.
Spirobolus carnifex, (Fabr.), (cf. infra, p. 166), Madras and Ceylon ;
erebrestriatus, Humbert, op. cit., p, 55; taprobanensis, id., p. 56, Ceylon ;
spirostreptinus, Karsch, op. cit., p. 55, Ceylon ; goési, Porath (cf. infra,
p- 167), Madras; thurstoni, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 167), Madras; wroceros,
sp. n- (cf. infra, p. 169), Madras; greeni, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 170),
Ceylon ; dongicornis, sp. nu. (cf: infra, p. 171), Ceylon ; longicollis, sp.
n. (cf. infra, p. 172), Ceylon; obtusospinosus, Voges, Zeits. wissen.
Zool., xxxi, p. 189, Ceylon.
Family, Polyzonide.
Siphonophora picteti, Humbert, op. cit., p. 59 ; humberti, sp. n. (cf.
infra, p. 173), Ceylon.
The following species of Julide are too briefly described to be
recognizable :—Judus indicus,’ Linn:, Mus. Adolf. Frid., p. 90; indus, id.,
Syst., Nat., p.3019 ; fuscus, Linn., Ameen. Acad., iv, p. 263 ; ceilanicus,
Brandt, Rec. Mem., p. 93.
CLASS, CHILOPODA.
Family, Seutigeride.
Scutigera longicornts (Fabr.), Haase, Abh. Ber. Mus. Dresden, 1887,
no. 5, p. 17, India and pees rabrolineata, Newport, Tr. Linn.
Soc., xix, p. 358, India.
Family, He nett
Asanada brevicornis, Meinert, Amer. Phil. Soc., 1886, p. 189, Kulu.
Scolopendra hardwickii, Newport, op. cit., p. 3895, India and
Ceylon ; subspinipes, Leach, Tr. Linn. Soc., xi, p. 383, India and
Ceylon; morsitans, (Linn.), Kohl. (see infra, p. 140) ; Jato, Meinert
(Vid. Medd. nat. Forening, Copenhagen, 1884, p. 127), Serampore ;
indica, id. (Ann. Phil. Soc. 1886, p. 104), Kulu.
Cormocephalus sarasinorum, Haase (op. cit., p.63), Ceylon ; inermipes,
Pocock (Ann. Nat. Hist., 1891, p. 64), Ceylon ; dentipes, id. (loc. cit.,
p- 66), Bengal; pygmeus, sp. n. (cf. infra, p. 140), Madras.
Otostigma carinatum, Porath (Bih. Sv. Vet. Ak. Handl., iv, pt. 7,
p- 20) ; ceylonicum, Haase (cf. infra, p. 140) ; orientale, Porath (op. cit.,
138 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
p- 19), Bombay ; splendens, morsitans, nudum, ruficeps, Pocock (Ann.
Nat. Hist., 1890, pp. 245-248), Madras.
Rhysida longipes, Newport (cf. infra, p. 139), Madras and Ceylon;
immarginata, Porath (cf. infra, p. 189), Madras and Ceylon.
Heterostoma langiconda, Pocock (Ann. N.H., 1891, p. 55), India and
Ceylon ; spinosum, Newport (op. cit., p. 414), Ceylon 5 paucispinosum,
Haase (cf. infra, p. 138), Ceylon; triste, Meinert (cf. infra, p. 139),
Madras, &c.; sidhetense, Haase (op. cit., p. 92), Silhet; cribriferum,
Gervais, (¢este Haase, op. cit., p. 94), Mysore.
Family, Geophilide.
Mecistocephalus punctifrons, Newport (op. cit. p.429),Ceylonand India.
Orphneus brevilabiatus, Newport (cf. infra, p. 142), Ceylon.
HTimantosoma striatum, Pocock(Ann. Nat. Hist.,1890, p. 248), Madras.
This list does not contain references to those species which have been
recorded vaguely as from the East Indies, although it must be
admitted the area is sufficiently comprehensive to embrace any spot
between Papua and the Punjab.
Nor are the Burmese species included. For the Chilopoda of this
country, reference may be made to my paper in the Ann. Mus.
Genoy., (2), x, (xxx), pp. 401-432 (1891) on the Chilopoda collected
by Sig. L. Fea and Mr. E. W. Oates, Of the Diplopoda, only one
group, the Oniscomorpha, has as yet been worked out. This may be
found in the Ann. Mus. Genov., (2), x, pp. 884—395 (1890).
CLASS, CHILOPODA.
Family, Scolopendride.
Heterostoma paucispinosum, Haase. 3
Die Indisch.-Austral. Chilopoden, Abh. Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden,
no. 5, 1887, p. 90, pl. v, fig. 95.
Dr. Haase looked upon this form as a variety of H. spinosum of
Newport, a species which also occurs in Ceylon. It appears to me,
however, to be sufficiently well characterised to rank, at all events,
provisionally, as a distinct species. The two forms agree in the
interesting fact that in the ¢ the distal spime on the upper inner
edge of the anal femur is enormously enlarged. H. paucispinosum may
be recognised by the presence of only 7 spines on the anal femur, by
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYPIOPODA. 139
the absence of sulci on the sternites, and by the fact that the anal
pleura is terminated by two spines, one inferior and large, the
other at some distance above it and smaller.
Ceylon: Mr. Green brought back one female specimen measuring
about 90 mm. (34 inches) in length.
Heterostoma triste, Meinert.
Meinert, Vid. Medd. Nat. Foren. (Copenhagen), 1886, pp. 114, 115;
Haase, op. cit., pp. 91, 92.
This is the species that I previously (Ann. Nat. His., 1890, p. 245)
referred to as the 2 of H.spinosum. Mr. Thurston has sent one speci-
men from Madras, another from the Nilghiri Hills, and a third from
Mysore. Dr. Meinert’s specimens were from Vellore and the
Sheveroy Hills.
In this species the anal femur is armed with 7 or 8 strong
spines; the anal pleura terminates with two spines, one above,
smaller and at some distance from the other, there is a conspicuous
lateral spine and sometimes also a superior spine ; the sternal sulci are
conspicuous although posteriorly abbreviated. Inthe ¢ the tarsal
segments of the anal leg are thickened and compressed.
The @ of this species bears a strong resemblance to the 9 of the
Ceylonese species paucispinosum. It may, however, be recognised
by the absence of sternal sulci.
Dr. Haase regards triste only as a variety of the Chinese species
HT. rapax of Gervais.
Rhysida longipes, (Newport).
Haase, op. cit., p. 83.
One specimen sent from Madras by Mr. Thurston. ‘This species
is wide-spread, occurring in both the East and West Indies. The
British Museum has examples from Burma, Bengal, and Ceylon.
This species may be recognised from the one following by the
strong spine-armature of its anal legs, and by the raised side
margins of the tergites in the posterior half of the body.
Rhysida immarginata, (Porath).
Bih. Sv. Vet. Ak. Handl., iv, no. 7, p. 24 (1876); for full
synonymy, see Pocock (Ann. Mus. Genov., (2), x, p. 417).
One specimen sent from Ceylon by Mr. Green.
M0 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
The tarsi of the pre-anal legs are furnished with a single spur; the
anal pleure are furnished on one side with two apical spines and on
the other with one; the anal femora are armed with three small
spines, one on the middle of the upper inner edge, one on the under
inner edge, and one on the under outer edge.
Mr. Thurston has, on a previous occasion, sent this species from
Madras.
Otostigma ceylonicum, Haase.
Op. cit., pp. 69, 70, pl. iv, fig. 67.
Mr. Green brought back several specimens from Punduloya.
This species also occurs in Burma, as J have elsewhere pointed out.
Two very nearly allied forms were on a previous occasion sent to
the British Museum from Madras by Mr. Edgar Thurston. Both of
these were new and were described by me in the paper to which
reference has already been made. These were called O¢. splendens
and Ot. morsitans; but at the time, not having then seen O¢. ceylo-
nicum, 1 was not able to give very satisfactory characters to distin-
guish the three. In Q¢. splendens the anal pleure are much longer
and stronger than in O¢. celyonicum, in which they are remarkably
weak; while in O¢. morsitans the tergites are beset with minute
spicules, and the sternites are laterally and not mesially impressed.
Scolopendra morsitans, (Linn.), Kohl.
Haase, op. cit., pp. 02, 03.
Mr. Thurston sent specimens from Mysore and Madras.
This species is found in all tropical and subtropical countries. It
is of medium size, and varies considerably in colour; but it may be
recognised by the presence of nine spines in three longitudinal rows
on the lower surface of the femur of the anal legs. It seems to be
widely distributed in India; the British Museum has examples from
Burma, Calcutta, Bengal, N.-W. India, Maballah, Midnapore,
Madras, and Ceylon.
Cormocephalus pygmaeus, sp. 0.
Colour a deep greenish-blue throughout, darker posteriorly.
Body moderately robust and nearly parallel-sided.
Head very minutely punctured, marked in its posterior half with
two anteriorly diverging sulci.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 141
Antenne short, thick at the base, attenuate, composed of 17 segments,
whereof the basal six ate naked, and the rest pubescent.
Maziilipedes minutely punctured, coxz slightly depressed mesially
in front, the anterior piates somewhat long, slightly separated at the
base, in contact distally, each bearing four teeth, whereof the three
internal are fused, and the external distinct and conical.
Tergites minutely punctured, each of them, with the exception of
the last but including the first, marked throughout by two complete
conspicuous sulci} the last five with raised margins.
Sternites, except the last and first, with conspicuous sulci, not
impressed.
Anal somite; tergite with a complete median sulcus; plewre marked
with very clearly defined circular larger and smaller pores, the pro-
cess conspicuous but not elongate, smooth, tipped with two spines, a
single spine near the tergite onthe posterior border ; sternite somewhat
narrow, its sides strongly converging posteriorly, with rounded pos-
terior angles; /egs moderately robust and moderately long, the
femur armed with about 17 spines, 3, 4,3 in longitudinal rows on the
inner surface, and 3, 4 in longitudinal rows on the under outer edge,
the process small and tipped with two spines, the claw not basally
spurred.
Legs somewhat robust with unspined tarsi but spurred claws.
Stigmata small and circular.
Length 25 mm.
A single specimen, probably not adult, from Madras.
Resembling C. denttpes, from Bengal, in having the first tergite
completely bisulcate, but differing in having the anal legs smooth
and not tubercular.
Family, Geophilide.
Mecistocephalus punctifrons, Newport.
Trans. Linn, Soc., xix, p. 429 (1845); for synonymy, Pocock.
Ann. Mus. Genova, (2), x, p. 423.
Ceylon: Mr. Green.
This is far the commonest oriental species of this family. Mr.
Thurston has already sent it from Madras. Mr. Oates has collected
it at many localities in Burma.
19
142 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Orphneus brevilabiatus, (Newport.)
Op. cit., p. 4389; for synonymy, Pocock, op. cit., p. 425.
One specimen sent by Mr. Green from Ceylon. With the exception
of the preceding this species is more abundant in the East than any
other member of the family.
The British Museum has examples from Burma, Madras, and
Ceylon.
CLASS, DIPLOPODA.
SUB-CLASS, PSELAPHOGNATHA.
Family, Polyxende.
Polyzxenus ceylonicus, sp. 1.
Colour (in alcohol) entirely ochraceous.
Of large size.
Lower half of head perfectly smooth, labrum defined by a sulcus
and angularly excised in the middle; a deep sulcus between the
antenns; upper surface of head lightly hollowed in the middle,
furnished along its anterior margin with two tufts of long hairs ;
eyes composed of about 8 ocelli on each side; antennz long and
slender, projecting far beyond the sides of the head. Body com-
posed of 11 segments, the terga indistinctly divided longitudinally in
the middle line ; each tergite furnished on each side of its posterior
border with a transverse tuft of hairs; the pleura on each side
produced into a prominence which is adorned with a large tuft of
hairs; the terminal segment bearing an elongate funnel-shaped
tuft of hairs.
Length 3 mm.
Punduloya. Mr. Green informs me that he obtained this species
by beating the bushes.
Unfortunately the immersion in alcohol of these specimens has
removed nearly all the hairs that adorn the body when living. I have
consequently been obliged to judge of their position by the scars
which mark their points of attachment. Fortunately Mr. Green
made a sketch of the lower surface of one of these animals before
the destruction of the hairs, and this sketch shows clearly that the
plumes were arranged very much as they are in P. lagurus. The
hairs, judging from a few that remain on the dorsal surface, were
very much finer than in our Kuropean species.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. . 143
SUB-CLASS, CHILOGNATHA.
Order, ONIsCOMORPHA.
Family, Zephroniide.
Zephronia brandti, Humbert.
Syn. Spheropeus brandti, Humbert, Mem. Soc. Phys. Genéve, xviii,
p. 38, p. ii, fig. 15 (1865); Karsch,
Arch. Naturg., 1881, p. 29.
Zephronia chitonoides, Butler, Ann. N. H., (4), x, p. 354, pl.
xvii, fig. 2 (1872).
- es rugulosa, id., t.c., p. 355, pl. xviii, fig. 1.
Mr. Green obtained this species at Punduloya, in Ceylon.
Colour testaceous or ochraceous, head and nuchal plate usually
darker than rest of the body, the anterior portion of the tergites
may be darker than the posterior.
Head sparsely punctured above, more thickly so in region of
labrum ; armed above with from four to ten sharp teeth borne on a
ridge which extends without interruption from one eye to the other.
Nuchal plate with inferior margin nearly straight and upturned
edge ; not marked with a sulcus or ridge; almost without punctures,
somewhat thickly punctured above its inferior margin.
First tergite with somewhat abruptly rounded anterior border ;
not sulcate ; lamina very slightly developed, scarcely represented by
more than the upturned edge of the tergite; anterior edge of the
tergite very gradually produced forward on each side of the head,
then curving gently back to the inferior portion; anterior portion
either punctured or almost smooth.
Tergites anteriorly more or less punctured or rugulose ; posteriorly
without punctures ; sometimes almost wholly smooth.
Anal tergite exceedingly finely or coarsely punctured or rugulose ;
without a ridge on each side of the inferior internal surface, and
without a trace of a notch or the antero-lateral inferior edge.
$. Anal tergite saddle-shaped, 7. e., concave from before back-
wards and from side to side. Antenne larger.
Forceps; 1st pair—proximal and second segments wide and flat ;
third segment rounded and stout, with a slender conical dactylar
prolongation; distal segment more compressed, truncate, projecting
»”
144. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
a long way beyond the dactylus of the preceding segment; bearing
two processes, of which the proximal is very small and the distal
very large.
2nd pair—proximal segments stout, dactylar prolongation of the
second blade-like, with straight minutely denticulated inner surface,
rounded apex and outer surface rounded from base to apex; distal
segment also blade-like, considerably longer than the dactylus of the
preceding segment; anterior edge of the inner surface straight and
simple, the posterior edge furnished with a series of minute denticles
is considerably thicker at its proximal than at its distal extremity ;
outer surface evenly rounded from base to apex.
@. Anal tergite not saddle-shaped, antennz smaller.
Vulwa. Basal sclerite rounded proximally, distally angled and
separating the two distal sclerites; internal sclerite, from the front,
more or less rod-like, with perfectly straight outer border and.
rounded apex, expanded proximally and distally, projecting consi-
derably beyond the external sclerite; external sclerite (the cap)
varying somewhat in shape, with tolerably straight inner border and
more or less irregularly rounded external border, thinner at its.
proximal than at its distal end.
Length 15-40 mm.
The species Z. chitonoides was. established by Mr. Butler upon
certain specimens which differ from Z. brandéi in the narrower and
more elongate shape of the body. But this difference of shape is
clearly due to distortion of the tergites during the process of drying.
The type of Z. rugulosa cannot be separated by any reliable
characters from specimens of Z. brandti.
Zephronia mermis, Humbert.
Syn. Spheeropeeus inermis, Humbert, Mém. Soc, Genéve, xviii,
p. 07, pl. iui, fig. 16 (1865).
» ephronia corrugata, Butler, Ann. Nat. Hist. (4), x,
p. 355 (1872).
ie i aA id., Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 180,
OY saibsep aes 5)5
i a. leopardina, id., t.c., p. 306.
x8 Bi s id., Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 181,
pl. xix, fig. 10.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 145
Not Spheropeus inermis, Karsch, Arch. Naturg., 1881, p. 29, pl. ii,
G. and g.
Also obtained at Punduloya by Mr. Green.
It is needless to describe this species, for, as Mons. Humbert
pointed out, it can only be distinguished from Z. br‘andti by the absence
of the teeth on the head. I very much doubt the value of this
character by itself, and am disposed to think that further researches
will show that it cannot be considered as of specific importance.
Although in his original descriptions Mr. Butler points out the
resemblance existing between Z. eorrugata, Z. leopardina, and Z. inermis,
in his later revision of this group, he refers these three species to
distinct sections of the genus. The rugosity upon which corrugata
was based and the colours of /eopardina are not, in my opinion, of
specific importance.
Dr. Karsch’s specimen of Z. inermis differs from those in the British
Museum in the form of the copulatory forceps; and, since Mons.
Humbert asserts that in the shape of this organ Z. inermis resembles
Z. brandti, I have no doubt that the specimens in the Berlin Museum
have been wrongly identified. The copulatory foot of Dr. Karsch’s
Z. inermis appears to bear some resemblance to that of Z. versicolor.
Zephronia heterosticatica, Newport.
(Plow atigih,)
Syn. Zeph. heterosticatica, Newport, Ann. Nat. Hist. (1), xiii,
p. 265 (1844).
sx» ~~ futescens, Butler, Ann, Nat. Hist. (4), x, p. 8356 (1872).
el Ae rf id., Proc, Zool. Soc., 1873, p. 179, pl. xix,
fig. 5.
© », atrisparsa,id., Trans. Ent. Soc., 1878, p. 302.
Colour, varying from testaceous to olivaceous, tergites generally
ornamented with more or fewer irregularly arranged black spots;
dull or slightly polished ; without punctures or sparsely punctured.
Head like that of Z. inermis; nuchal plate like that of Z. inermis
in having a nearly straight inferior border, and in not being marked
with a faint sulcus or ridge; a row of punctures along the superior
and along the inferior border,
Ist tergite with scarcely developed lamina and evenly arched
anterior border; the upper surface evenly sloped from behind
146 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
forwards; in small specimens (/.e., in those named atrisparsa and
dutescens) there is-a faint sulcus running parallel with the anterior
border and just behind it; in larger forms this sulcus becomes
obsolete.
Anal tergite near the middle of its hinder half more thickly punc-
tured than the others; the ridge on its inner surface represented by
an anterior longer and a: posterior shorter black portion; the notch
absent or scarcely visible.
é. Anal tergite rounded.
Forceps.—1st pair with immovable daetylus short and upeurled ;
movable dactylus with a basal external rounded projection, a com-
pressed distal half, anda distinct more or lessrounded tooth projecting
inwardly te meet the immovable dactylus.
2nd pair :—The two dactyli about equal in: length ; the immovable
blade-like, not attenuated towards distal end,, with a nearly straight
denticulate inner edge, outer edge proximally nearly straight,. dis-
tally exceedingly convex, the movable dactylus hollowed internally,
and with hinder edge denticulate, much thicker at base than. at
apex, with gently convex outer border and concave inner border..
@. Anal tergite resembling that of the male.
Vulva formed on the same plan as-in Z. brandti, and. not differing
from it in any important particulars..
Length 18-35 mm,
This species closely resembles Z. inermis, Humbert, in the form of
the head, nuchal plate, and Ist tergite, but differs in the form of the
copulatory forceps, in the presence of the ridge on the anal tergite,
in colour, and in sculpture.
I cannot separate Z. Jutescens from Z. heterosticatica by any character
which I consider specific. There are certainly no black spots on the
two specimens of the former species, which served as Mr. Butler’s
types, and there is a sulcus on the first tergite. Nevertheless both
these characters are variable, inasmuch as in one specimen of
Z. heterosticatica, the spots are few in number and the sulcus is feebly
indicated.
The type of Z. atrisparsa differs from /utescens and resembles
heterosticatica in being, as the name indicates, spotted with black ; and
it closely resembles /wiescens in having the first tergite sulcate.
REPORT OPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 147
This species has not yet been recorded from Ceylon. It appears,
however, to be tolerably widely distributed in Southern India. The
British Museum has examples from Bombay and Madras; and in
addition to further examples from Madras, Mr. Thurston has sent
others from the Nilghiri Hills.
Order, HELMINTHOMORPHA.
Family, Polydesmide.
Leptodesmus inornatus, (Humbert).
Loe. cit. pp. 30, 31, pl. iti, fig. 11.
This species was recorded originally from Peradenia. Mr. Green
brought one example from Punduloya. This specimen is concolorous
and pale coloured, thus differing markedly from the L. tanjoricus
described below.
Leptodesmus thwaitesii, (Humbert).
Hoc? eit.; pp: 27, 25, pl. u, ig. 9,
This beautiful species was also recorded in the first instance from
Peradenia ; Mr. Green obtained several examples at Punduloya. It is
avery marked form. The keels are well-developed and like the
posterior half of the segment are nearly white, while the anterior
half is chocolate-brown with white spots.
Leptodesmus tanjoricus, sp. n.
(Pl. i, figs. 3, 3a, 3b.)
Colour, upper surface deep chocolate-brown, almost black, the
under surface, the labral region of head, the antenne and legs pale
brown, the keels of all the segments and the caudal process pale
yellow; polished. ?
Body nearly parallel-sided; somewhat slender, lightly convex
between the keels. First tergite much wider than head with lightly
convex anterior border, the posterior border nearly straight and run-
ning obliquely outwards, forwards, and downwards, the border with
raised margins, the keels of the Ist, 2nd, 3rd and 4th tergites nearly
in a straight line, sloping backwards and upwards to the 5th; keel of
the 2nd well developed and a little depressed, with anterior border
and angles lightly convex, squared posteriorly ; 3rd and 4th with
keels horizontal and directed backwards; the rest of the segments
with the keels horizontal and not elevated, not long, the posterior
148 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
border being slightly produced backwards in the anterior half of
the body and more soin the posterior half, but the keels never
extend beyond the level of the posterior border of the tergites, the
antero-lateral border convex; border of the keels thickened and
elevated, those of the poriferous segments much thicker than the
others; keels of the 19th somite not produced, tuberculiform ; the
pores completely lateral and situated in the posterior half of the
lateral surface; 5th to the 18th furnished with a weak median
transverse sulcus. Lateral portion of the somites beneath the keel
sub-granular, the upper surface being smooth or at most slightly
reticulated; the 2nd to about the 18th somites furnished with a
conspicuous ridge above the tracheal apertures.
Sternal surface of the 5th furnished in its anterior half with a low,
wide, posteriorly slightly elevated prominence; sternite of the 20th
obtusely triangular, its posterior angle rounded, bearing a tubercle
on each side in front of the margin.
Legs: femur of 5th, 6th and 7th pairs (7. ¢., the posterior pair on
the 5th and the two pairs of the 6th somites) bearing an inferior
prominence, which is smaller on the 5th, largest on the 7th. Copula-
tory feet reaching to the middle of the sternum of the 6th somite (with
the body etxended), the 2nd segment hairy, narrowed distally, and
bearing internally and posteriorly a backwardly-directed projection,
the 8rd segment externally convex, terminated by four processes,
which considered from behind forwards may be described as
follows—the first is slender, short, and nearly at right angles to the
axis of the foot, the second belonging to the same piece as the first, is
directed forwards, thin, blade-like, and pointed, the other two are
slender, curved and closely in contact, almost equal in length, the
external embracing the internal.
Length 86mm.
Several specimens, all males, from Tanjore.
This species at least differs from L. luctwosus, (Peters), from Ceylon,
in colouring; for luctwosusis said to have the posterior border
of the somites pale coloured. It cannot, moreover, be confounded
with any of the species recorded by Humbert from the same
island.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 149
Paradesmus kelaarti, (Humbert).
(PI. ii} fig2 12.)
Essai Sur les Myriapodes de Ceylan. Mém. Soc. Phys. Genéve,
XvVili, pp. 23, 24, pt. ui, fig. 7.
Recorded originally from Ceylon.
Mr. Thurston sent one specimen (d) from Tanjore, and two (2)
from Madras.
This species has the dorsal surface remarkably flat and rugulose,
and only the posterior angles of the keels flavous.
Strongylosoma simplex, (Humbert).
Loe. cit., pp. 34, 35, pl. i, fig. 14.
Specimens of both sexes from Punduloya (Ceylon) were brought
by Mr, Green.
The types of the species were collected by Mons. Humbert at
Pundel-Oya (sic).
This species approaches Leptodesmus in the form of its caudal pro-
cess. The colour of the head, antenne, legs, caudal process, and the
anterior and inferior portions of the somites—of the whole animal in
fact, except just the upper surface of the keel-bearing portion of the
somites and the keels, which are ferruginous or piceous—is ochra-
ceous or testaceous.
Strongylosoma greeni, sp. n.
(Pl. ii, fig. 14.)
Colour (in alcohol) entirely pale ochraceous or testaceous.
@. Body attenuated in its anterior half.
Head hairy below with a vertical sulcus above; antenne long, the
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th segments sub-equal in length.
Segments smooth and shining ; the Ist with convex anterior mar-
gin, rounded angle and posterior margin straight in the middle, not
sulcate; the 2nd with an indistinct transverse sulcus, the keel pro-
jecting below the level of the angle of the Ist and the keel of the
2nd, produced forwards and downwards; 38rd and 4th obsoletely
sulcate transversely, the keels very small, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th with
an elongate tubercle above the base of the legs; the rest of the
somites marked with a transverse sulcus; the keels very small,
situated above the middle, not attaining the posterior margin of the
somites, the pores situated in their posterior half, keels on the 19th
20
150 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
somite almost absent; the caudal process of the 20th normal in form;
the sternum bituberulate posteriorly. Legs hairy and elongate.
$. Body a little more slender, the keels a little more prominent ;
the sternum of the fifth unmodified, and the femora of all the legs
normal.
Copulatory feet short; the basal segment hairy, the second segment
stout and terminating distally in two processes, an external slender,
filiform, and curled at the apex, an internal stouter, giving off a short
slender lamina on the inner side at its base, strongly curved inwardly
in its distal half.
Length up to 23 mm.
Several examples from Punduloya; Mr. Green.
This species resembles St. simplex in having only a transverse dorsal
sulcus ; but may at once be recognised by the difference in colouring,
in the form of the copulatory apparatus, smaller keels, &c. Moreover
in simplex there is present on all the segments except those at the
posterior end of the body a conspicuous sub-crescentic crest above
the base of the legs—a crest which is entirely absent in Str. greent.
Strongylosoma cingalense, Humbert.
(LS aly areas)
Loe. cit., pp. 32, 33, pl. m1, fig. 13, 9. ;
‘Two males and three females were obtained by Mr. Green. Hum-
bert’s species was based upon a single female specimen which was also
captured at Pundel-Oya. As this author pointed out, this species is
very closely related to his Str. shiner, and the differential charac- -
ters he was able to give were of doubtful value seeing that members
of different sexes were being compared. Mr. Green’s discovery of the
male has, however, settled the point, and has clearly shown that the
two species are in reality distinct, although very closely allied. Thus _
the male of S¢. cingalense has the same peculiar process on the ster-
num of the 5th somite, and its copulatory feet are very like those of
St. skinnert. In St. skinneri, however, according to Humbert’s figure
and from a specimen of this species in the Museum collection, the
two slender pieces of the copulatory apparatus are aslong as the median
laminate piece, and there is a distinct small basal process. Whereas
in Sé. cingalense there is no small basal process, and the slender pieces
are shorter than the central lamina, which is itself differently cleft.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 151
Furthermore, the longitudinal sulcus of the tergites is less strongly
developed thanin the 2, being in fact nearly obsolete, while in
St, skinneri it is more strongly developed than in the Q of cingalense.
Strongylosoma phipsoni, sp. n.
(PL i fies 45 Bin fig. 13.)
2. Colour; head, antennze, upper surface of legs and somites, as’
far as the transverse sulcus, ferruginous, the lower surface of the
legs and of the somites pale coloured; the borders of the first
tergite, the portions of the other tergite, posterior to the transverse
sulcus, with the corresponding half of the keel yellow ; sometimes there
is an abbreviated, narrow, darker median longitudinal streak on the
posterior half of the tergites; the entire upper surface generally
exceedingly polished.
Head with a sulcus running from the vertex to a point on a level
with the joint of the antenne, labral region rugulose; antennz elongate.
I’irst tergite without trace of keel ; the second with a conspicuous keel,
slightly produced in front and behind, which is below the level of the
margin of the first and of the keel of the third; the other segments
distinctly keeled, the keels, however, are small, although defined above
almost throughout the length of the keel-bearing portion of the
tergites, and project slightly posteriorly ; the upper surface of the
tergites is perfectly smooth, the transverse sulcus is conspicuous, but
there is no longitudinal sulcus ; the portion beneath the keel is at
the anterior extremity of the body apparently granular, posteriorly it
is irregularly and longitudinally striate, especially behind; there is a
complete inferior keel above the base of the legs on all the segments ;
the pores are lateral and situated in the posterior half of the keels ;
the groove which separates the anterior cylindrical from the posterior
keel-bearing portion is above indistinctly beaded.
Legs shortly hairy beneath.
3. Of more slender build, with more prominent keels. The anterior
legs thickened, the two distal segments of the legs thickly hairy
beneath. The sternum of the 5th somite without any outgrowth.
The copulatory feet short; the proximal segment is thickly
hirsute and bearing a backward projection, the following segment
apparently undivided, but stout at the base and tapering to the
point, its distal half, when at rest, spirally coiled on itself,
152 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1392.
Length up to 27 mm. The British Museum has several dried
specimens of this species. Most of these are ticketed ‘ Indian
Museum,’ so doubtless they came from some part of India; but
one of them presented by Mr. G. R. G. Rothney is labelled Caleutta.
This species may be easily recognised from all the known Ceylonese
and Indian species by its curious banded colouring—a character in
which it appears to come nearest to an Australian species known as
transverse-teeniatum of L. Koch
a species of which the Museum
has several examples. But in this last-named the keels are brown, as
also are the anterior and lateral borders of the first tergite. It is
moreover not smooth and polished. I have great pleasure in dedicat-
ing this well-marked species to Mr. H. M. Phipson of the Bombay
Natural History Society.
Strongylosoma jerdant, sp. n.
Colour (dry specimens), entirely testaceous throughout. Closely
related to the preceding species; it is consequently needless to
reproduce in full the foregoing description. The most satisfactory
way of describing this new form will be perhaps to point out how it
may be recognised from phipsont.
1s¢.—The colour is entirely different.
2nd.—The upper surface of the somites is not smooth and polished,
but dull and rugulose.
drd.—The keels are almost absent; they are very short, being
scarcely represented by more than a tubercle on the hinder portion
of the somite, and are less conspicuous than the inferior keels.
These specimens are all males, and if we may judge by analogy with
phipsont, in which the keels of the males are larger than those of the
females, in this new species the keels should be absent in the females.
In sexual characters, i.e., the form of the copulatory foot, the
absence of any prominence of the sternum of the 6th somite, and the
hairy tarsi of the legs—this species is quite like phipsoni.
The Museum has three dry, possibly faded male examples from
Madras from the collection of Mr. Jerdan.
I trust that Mr. Thurston will soon obtain fresh specimens of
this species so that its real colour may be known.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 153
Polydesmus cognatus, Humbert.
Loe. cit.; pp. 22, 23, pl. ii, fig. 6.
Three specimens from Punduloya (Mr. Green).
Recorded by Humbert from Peradenia and from Pundel-Oya,
Cryptodesmus ceylonicus, sp. n.
(Pl. i, fies. 2; 2c.)
Colour (in alcohol) uniform pale brown above; upper part of head
also pale brown ; labral region and legs ochraceous.
Head thickly and shortly hairy, labral region somewhat produced.
and quadrate with rounded angles, defined from the upper part of the
head by a shallow transverse groove ; vertex of head lightly sulcate
longitudinally.
Antenne short but thick and clavate, the sixth segment the largest,
the seventh nearly as large as the fifth.
Body hairy, a little narrowed in front and behind, the upper
surface very convex, the keels rising low on the segments and directed
downwards ; the first tergite narrower than the second, but much
wider than the head and covering it, its anterior border evenly
convex from apex to apex of keel, its posterior border nearly straight,
covered throughout with tubercles arranged irregularly in 5 or 6
rows; the keel-bearing part of the rest of the segments covered with
large tubercles which are arranged in three transverse rows, in some
of the segments there are also indications of a fourth row of smaller
tubercles; the anterior margin of the keels is defined by a sulcus but
is unarmed, the antero-lateral angle is obtuse and rounded, the postero-
lateral angle is sharp and produced, the posterior border being
slightly concave, the lateral margin bears five or six sharp teeth, and
the posterior margin also five or six more or less quadrate teeth, the
keels of the nineteenth do not project so far posteriorly as the
extremity of the anal segment; the sides of the anal segment meeting
at an angle of 90°; the lower surface of the keels is transversely
sulcate towards the lateral margin. Sterna deeply sulcate longi-
tudinally and very narrow.
Legs thickly hairy,
Length, 11 mm.
Two female specimens from Punduloya (Mr. Green),
This is the first record of this genus from any part of the Oriental
Region.
154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Cryptodesmus green, sp. Ni.
(Pl. ii, fig: 3.)
Colour (in alcohol), brown above, antennze and labrum testaceous,
legs ochraceous.
Head hairy, with a shallow vertical sulcus, labrum defined above
by a transverse furrow, somewhat produced as in the preceding
species, with rounded angles and widely excised border. Antenne
short and thick, clavate, the segments increasing in size to the sixth,
the seventh about as large as the fifth.
Body hairy, convex above, the keels directed downwards and
outwards, not continuing the slope of the back but inclined to it at
an obtuse angle; Ist tergite much wider than the head and narrower
than the 2nd, convex in the middle, the margins of its keels sloping
towards each other and meeting in a rounded angle of about 50°,
covered with close-set rounded tubercles; the rest of the tergites
adorned with many tubercles arranged in four transverse rows, these
tubercles becoming nearly obsolete on the keels; anterior border of
the keels unarmed, lightly convex and defined by a sulcus, posterior
border straight and armed with a series of close-set quadrate
teeth, the anterior angle rounded, the posterior angle squared, the
lateral margin quadri-dentate; keels of 19th extending nearly as far
as the apex of the anal which is pointed ; under surface of the keels
suleate towards their margins, the sulci running inwards from the
margins. Sena narrow and deeply sulcate; anal sternite tri-tuber-
culate.
Legs hairy.
3. Copulatory forceps very small, the distal segments simple,
closely in contact, hooked at the apex.
Length about 9 mm.
A single male specimen from Punduloya (Mr. Green).
This may prove to be the d of the preceding species. But there
is no evidence at present to show that the differences between the two
are of a sexual nature. The keels are very different in shape. In
Cr. ceylonicus they are much narrower, the posterior angle is produced,
and the posterior border concave. Whereas in Cr. greent they are
more produced, the posterior border is straight, and the posterior
angle squared.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 155
Pyrgodesmus, gen. nov.
(PL “i, “figs,” 1 °tb:)
Allied to Cryptodesmus.
Head covered by an expansion of the first tergite.
Keels rising below the middle of the sides of the somites and
depressed.
Each somite bearing a large upstanding projection or keel in the
middle of its dorsal surface.
Pores minute, occurring on the 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th
15th—19th segments, situated on the upper surface of a special
tubercle which projects from the posterior half of the lateral margin
of the keels.
Pyrgodesmus obscurus, sp. n.
Colour (in alcohol); somites of a uniform dull brown colour;
labrum, antenne, and legs testaceous.
Head tubercular above, labral region smooth but punctured and
hairy, produced, its sides being sub-parallel, its angles rounded.
Antenne close together, of moderate length, the second segment long,
the fifth the longest and the thickest, the sixth and seventh very
small, forming together a conical termination to the appendage.
Body granular and subtubercular throughout ; Ist tergite with its
anterior border carinate and evenly convex from side to side, as wide
as the second segment, bearing on its upper surface a very large, erect,
wide, tubercular prominence, the upper surface of which is shallowly
excavated ; the rest of the segments with keels depressed, oblique, ¢. e.,
sloping backwards and upwards, with anterior and posterior mar-
gins sub-parallel, the angles squared, and the lateral margin quadri-
lobate, those of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments straight, the rest
projecting more and more backwards towards the posterior end, those
of the 19th small and not produced posteriorly so far as end of the
20th, the keels of the 2nd with margins a little thicker than those of
the rest, but of the same level ; the median dorsal crests or prominences
thicker at the apex than at the base, those at the anterior end of the
body directed forwards, and those at the posterior end backwards,
those in the posterior three-quarters of the body marked on the sum-
mit with a longitudinal groove, the two sides of which are bilobate ;
at the anterior end of the body the groove becomes deeper and deeper,
156 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
and the prominences in consequence more and more bifid, so that
the crest on the 2nd is divided to the base and consists of a right and
left half; the surface of the segments between the base of the dorsal
and the base of the lateral keel furnished with a longitudinal series
of three conspicuous tubercles.
Sterna very narrow, so that the bases of the legs are nearly in
contact in the middle line ; ana/ sternite triangular.
g. All the legs thick, especially those in front of the seventh
somite ; copulatory feet with basal segment enormously enlarged:
hairy, punctured and sub-tubercular, the distal segment pale coloured,
slender, blade-like, in repose projecting obliquely inwards and back-
wards, crossing its fellow of the opposite side.
Length 10°5 mm.
Two male specimens from Punduloya (Mr. Green).
Family, Lysiopetalide.
Genus, Stemmiulus, Gervais.
Gervais, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., (2), ii, p. 28; Ann. Se. Nat., (3), 11, p-
70; Ins, -Apt., iv, p- 200, pl. 41, tiga fe ene Zeits. Natuarl (3).
Wily [Os Jel
This genus was referred to the Julide by both Gervais and Karsch,
both authors stating that it differs from Jw/us in the structure of its
eyes.
The type of the genus, 7. e., Sz. biocudatus from Colombia, is in the
collection of the British ee, and is beyond all question con-
generic with the specimens described below.
The characters that I believe to be of generic value are as follows: —
1. The eyes are situated behind the antenne and consist of either
one or two, simple, round ocelli.
2. The antenne are exceedingly long, slender, and not incrassate.
3. The collum is small like that of Lysiopetalum.
4. The body is compressed, and each somite is divided above by
a longitudinal sulcus.
5. The pedal laminz are all free.
6. The pores begin upon the 5th somite.
Tt will thus be seen that in characters 2, 4, 5, and 6, the genus
agrees with Lysiopetalum, and differs from the typical Julide. In
character 1 it resembles neither.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 157
It therefore appears to me to be rightly referable to the
Lystopetalide,
Stemmiulus ceylonicus, sp. n.
(Pl. i, fig. 2.)
Colour (in alcohol), obscure testaceous or ochraceous, with fuscous
bands; head, antenne and collum black, the posterior end of the body
becoming infuscate, the terminal somites being black ; legs pale»
infuscate.
Body moderately robust, compressed, a little narrower in front, and
tapering to a point posteriorly.
Head and fave convex, not suléate, sparsely punctured and hairy ;
margin of labrum shallowly and angularly excavated and serrate
throughout its width, with about 6 piliferous pores above; eyes
two on each side, subcontiguots, round, behind the socket of the
antenn, @ larger above and asmaller below. Antenne long, slender,
not incrassate, the second segment the longest, the third, fourth, and
fifth about equal in length, sixth about half the length of the fifth,
Somites finely striolate ; co//wm narrowed laterally to an acute angle,
margin thickened as high as the eye, and marked behind by a fine
sulcus, the rest of the somites marked anteriorly by a fine transverse
sulcus, those at the antericr end ef the bedy obliquely striate infe-
riorly and laterally, the striz ascending posteriorly se that the dorsum
of the middle and posterior end of the body is conspicuously striate ;
the strie sub-parallel on each side, but these on one side inclined at
an angle of about 80° to those on the other; the middle line of the
back marked by conspicuous longitudinal sulcus, and the inferior
portion of the somites above the legs also marked by a strong and
déep sulcus; the posterior margin of each somite inferiorly dentate,
the teeth very strong at the anterior extremity of the body ; anal
fergite very small, not produced beyond the valves; valves hairy,
nearly flat, with simple margins, a few short membranous processes
projecting above the valves; sternite with straight or lightly concave
hinder border and rounded posterior angles. Pores small, just
behind the transverse sulcus and far from the hinder border of the
somite, situated very high on the lateral surface of the dorsum.
Legs not long, hairy.
Number of segments 40-45; length about 32 mm.
21
158 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Punduloya (Mr. Green).
Two species of this genus have hitherto only been known—
St. bioculatus of Gervais from Columbia, and St. compressus of Karsch
from Porto Rico. Consequently the occurrence of the genus in Ceylon
is of very great interest.
The species here described resembles compressus and differs from
bioculatus in having two eyes on each side of the head. From com-
pressus it seems to differ in the form of the collum, in having all its
segments, except the first, marked with a median, dorsal, longitudinal
sulcus (Dr. Karsch describes a median, dorsal costa). Moreover,
Dr. Karsch makes no mention of the segments being laterally
dentate.
Family, Zulde.
Trachyiulus ceylonicus, Peters.
Peters, Mon. Ak. Wissen., Berlin, 1864, p. 547.
Humbert, op. cit., pp. 43-46, pl. iu, fig. 18.
Mr. Green obtained several examples of this remarkable species at
Punduloya.
Hitherto it has been regarded as peculiar to Ceylon, but the
British Museum has one example ticketed Madras.
Spirostreptus malabaricus, Gervais.
Ins. Apt., iv, p. 165.
Colour; head castaneous, clouded with piceous above; antenne clear
yellow, the basal segment brown, and the second segment feebly
shaded with the same colours; legs the same tint asthe antenne, with
the basal or basal two segments infuscate ; co//wm fusco-castaneous ;
anal segment and valves nearly black; the rest of the segments with
anterior half ferruginous and posterior half very nearly black;
shining,
Head entirely smooth and polished, at most very faintly punctured
with feebly rugulose upper portion of vertex, the suleus on the vertex
faint, inner angles of the eyes not united by a transverse sulcus ;
labral margin moderately excavated, with 2 (? more) punctures
above the excavation. Antenne short, punctured, when stretched
laterally barely reaching to the hind border of the collum; the four
distal segments pubescent. Eyes composed of about 72 ocelli, and
separated by a space greater than their longest diameter.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 159
Somites ; collum smooth and shining, much narrowed laterally,
with anterior and posterior borders of the lateral portion concave,
with squared angles, the inferior and the anterior margin as high as
the eye defined by a sulcus which widens below, for the rest entirely
without grooves and ridges; the rest of the segments (except the
anal) with a strong transverse median circular sulcus, the anterior
portion of each nearly smooth, only very feebly concentrically striate,
the posterior portion smooth above, but very finely striolate, the
lower portion longitudinally striate above the legs to about half the
distance between the legs and pores; pores situated about the middle
of the body immediately behind the sulcus, which is at this point
lightly sinuate; ventral grooves small, triangular, about half the
width of the sternal piece; anal somite convex above from before
backwards and from side to side, the process projecting over the
valves, slender, short and upcurled apically, finely and closely
punctured, the valves convex from above downwards and from before
backwards, the margins distinctly compressed, but not defined by a
strong groove, the sternite with lightly convex hinder border.
Legs with one strong spine above the terminal claw; not hairy above.
Number of segments 79; length about 250 mm.
A single Q specimen sent by Mr. Thurston from Kortallum. I
have very little doubt that I have correctly identified this specimen,
although Gervais’ description is not so exact as one could wish.
Gervais’ type was taken on the coast of Malabar.
Spirostreptus nigrolabiatus, Newport,
(Pl. i, fig. 7; pl. ii, fig. 5.)
Newport, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xiii, p. 269 (1844).
This species is undoubtedly closely related to the preceding, the
colour, sculpturing, form of collum and of anal somite being very
similar in the two. It is, however, much smaller, measuring only
about 1384 mm. in length, has only 57 or 59 segments, and in the 9
the face is strongly striate and rugulose. Moveover the lateral por-
tions of the collum are less slender, the anterior angle is rounder, and
the posterior a little more obtuse.
In the ¢ the collum is of the same form asin the 92. In the
copulatory foot the anterior piece of each half gradually widens from
above downwards, ending in two processes below, the external of these
160 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
is shorter, rounded and blunt, the internal, directed inwards towards
its fellow of the opposite side, has the form of an upcurled hook; the
posterior piece sends a long slender process down the outer surface
of the anterior piece, but ceases at the base of the external process ;
the central (protrusible) piece is distally expanded, sub-membranous,
and spirally coiled, the membranous portion is divided distally into
two laminze, each of which is irregularly excised along its free border,
and the posterior is armed with a single elongate style.
The specimens here identified have been compared with Newport’s
type of the species, which is preserved in the British (Nat. Hist.)
Museum. Newport vaguely gives ‘ Hast Indies’ as the locality of this
species. It is consequently satisfactory to know exactly an area
where it does occur.
Spirostreptus hamifer, Humbert.
Mem. Soc. Phys. Genéve, xviii, pp. 52, 53, pl. iv, fig. 22.
Madras (Mr. Thurston), and Punduloya (Mr. Green).
The Madras specimen that I refer to this species differs from
the specimen figured and described by Humbert in possessing 66
segments, and in having the lateral portions of the collum posteriorly
striate. The caudal process moreover is longer and more hooked
than in Humbert’s specimen.
This species was originally obtained from Peradenia in Ceylon ;
this is, I believe, the first record of its existence on the mainland.
It is of small size, slender build, and may be recognized by its
curiously hooked caudal process.
Spirostreptus caudiculatus, Karsch.
Zeits. Gen. Naturwis., (3), vi, pp. 27, 28 (1881).
Madras: Mr. Thurston sent one specimen only. Described by
Karsch from Ceylon.
This species is small, measuring about 50 or 55 mm. in length, and
being relatively slender. It may easily be recognised by the longi-
tudinal parallel ridges that adorn the segments, a form of sculptur-
ing in which it closely resembled Spirobolus crebrestriatus of Humbert
from Ceylon. But apart from its different generic characters, Sp.
caudiculatus may be at once recognized by its pointed and upceurled
‘ tail’—a process which is not developed in Sp. crebrestriatus.
The two specimens from Madras have a median dorsal flavous band.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 161
Spirostreptus asthenes, sp. n.
Colour (in alcohol). Head infuscate above, ochraceous beneath,
the antenne and legs ochraceous; collum infuscate, with paler
anterior border; anterior part of the rest of the segments pale,
posterior part infuscate with reddish border, a pale median spot
on each forming together a dorsal band ; anal somite infuscate except
for the pale borders of the valves and the median dorsal band which
extends on to the caudal process.
Of small size and slender build.
Head smooth, not sulcate, margin of labral excavation furnished
with six pores, of which the two extremes are widely separated from
the rest. Eyes composed of about 40 ocelli, widely separated.
Somites ; collum smooth, its lateral portions with straight posterior
and lightly sinuate anterior border, its anterior border defined by a
sulcus which extends as far as the eye, the inferior portion marked
by about two straight ridges and sulci; the rest of the tergites
nearly smooth, irregularly and feebly longitudinally striolate, the
inferior and lateral surface of the posterior portion ridged up to the
pores, which are situated in the posterior half a little below the
middle line; anal tergite above produced into a short blunt nearly
straight process, compressed at the base, projecting beyond the anal
valyes, with its upper edge pointing slightly downwards and back-
wards ; valves convex, their borders smooth, very convex and strongly
compressed, the angle formed by the compressed portion roughened ;
sternite small, with posterior border very slightly angled.
Number of segments 63. Length about 53 mm., width about
3°) mm.
A single 9 specimen from Madras (Mr. Thurston).
Spirostreptus jerdant, sp. n.
Colour? (specimen dry and probably faded) ; tergites cinereous,
with ochraceous posterior border; legs, face and collum entirely
ochraceous.
Face convex, with frontal sulcus, punctulate above, marked below
with a coarse reticulated pattern of short sulci; antenne of moderate
length, reaching beyond the margin of the collum; eyes of large size,
composed of about 60 ocelli arranged in 8 transverse rows.
162 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
Collum punctulate, its hinder border shortly striate, moderately
narrowed laterally, the anterior and posterior borders being inferiorly
at most very slightly concave, the anterior angle rectangularly*
convex, the posterior angle nearly a right angle, marked with norma
marginal sulcus, but not marked with other sulci or striz. The rest
of the somites marked with transverse sulous, the half in front
of the sulcus transversely striolate in front and thickly punctured
and rugulose close to the sulcus, the half behind the suleus also closely
punctured and rugulose in front and shortly striolate along the hinder
border, the inferior part furnished with five longitudinal ridges, which
do not extend as high as the pores. Anal somite punotulate and
striolate; the tergite simply angled along its posterior border,
without any caudal process, the angle not impressed, its apex just
covering but not projecting beyond the superior angle of the valves ;
valves widely but weakly compressed. Pores about the middle of
the side, behind the sulcus.
Legs with a single set on the under surface of each segment.
Number of segments 66, length about 88 mm,
A single female specimen from Madras (Jerdan coll.)
In the absence of a caudal process projecting beyond the anal
valves, this species resembles Sp. insculptus and Sp. modestus. In
Sp. modestus, however, the segments are described as smooth, and in
Sp, insculptus they are very much more coarsely sculptured, the anal
tergite is more acutely angled, the valves more compressed, and the
face not rugose. |
Spirostreptus centrurus, sp. D,
(PY. 1, fig. 4.)
&. Colour ? specimen dried and faded, but probably castaneous or
olivaceous, with the hinder margins of the segments darker ; antennes
and legs ochraceous.
Head with a superior vertical sulcus, convex, smooth and polished,
with six labral punctures; antenne long, reaching considerably
beyond the collum ; eyes rather small, composed of about 44 ocelli,
arranged in about 7 transverse rows, separated by a space that is
about equal to a diameter and a half.
Collum very large, almost entirely smooth and polished; the ante-
rior angle very much thickened and produced, so that the anterior
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA, 163
border is inferiorly lightly concave ; the posterior angle nearly a right
angle, the portion of the posterior border immediately above it lightly
emarginate ; a few obliquely longitudinal sulci on the surface of the
lateral portion. The rest of the segments with the posterior portion
a little higher than the anterior; the anterior portion finely striolate
in front, and covered with a closely and finely reticulated pattern of
smooth low ridges behind ; the portion behind the transverse sulcus,
which on the posterior somites is almost obsolete, is polished above,
but is more or less longitudinally sulcate throughout; below the
level of the pores the striz are close-set and clearly defined, above
the pore, however, they are more widely separated and less clearly
defined ; one sulcus is median. Anal somite smooth, produced into a
long stout caudal process, the axis of which is directed slightly
upwards, forming an obtuse angle with the line of the back, and the
apex is neither up turned nor down turned, anal valves with margins
widely compressed, Pores conspicuous behind the transverse sulcus
and about in the middle of the side. Ventral grooves short.
Legs tolerably long, with the fourth and fifth segments padded
beneath, and the others adorned with three or four hairs in a series,
Number of somites 67; length about 160 min.
Copulatory feet with anterior lamine very narrow and slender, widen-
ing distally, with its surface sub-costate; the central, protrusible
portion consisting of an elongate, slender, cylindrical rod, pointed
at its distal end ; from the distal fourth of its length there springs
a posterior piece, which, slender at first, rapidly expands into a wide
lamina bearing distally on its external angle a backwardly directed,
slightly curved, slenderspointed process, fringed beneath with
conspicuous hairs.
Of this handsome species the British Museum has a single dried
specimen from Ceylon (Holdsworth coll.).
This species may be at once recognised by the form of the eollum
in the ¢, and by the straight, long, stout caudal process,
-Spirostreptus inseulptus, sp. 0.
(Pl. i, fig. 8.)
Colour (in alcohol), anterior half of somites deep reddish-cihereous;
posterior half deep blackish-grey, anterior and posterior borders of
collum narrowly ferruginous, upper portion of head brunneo-fuscous,
164 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
lower portion ferruginous ; antenne flavous; legs flavous-ferruginous
at the base; arial somite with valves pale ochraceous:
Head; vertex with a faintly marked sulcus, lower portion irregularly
striolate, four punctures above the labral excision ; eyes composed of
53-66 ocelli arranged in 7 or 8 transverse rows, distance between the
eyes about equal to or a little less than a diameter; antenne some-
what short, reaching just beyond the hind border of the side of
the collum.
Somites; collim covered with a reticulated pattern of striole ;
lateral portion not markedly narrowed, with infero-anterior angles
obtusely convex and defined by a sulcus, posterior angle rectan-
gularly convex, niarked inferiorly and posteriorly with two crescentic
sulci: the rest divided into an anterior and posterior half by a
complete transvetse groove, the anterior half nearly smooth in front
and finely striolate transversely, but distinctly and finely rugose
behind ; the posterior half strongly sculptured out into fine, close-
set, more or less branching arid anastoniosing, smooth ridges which
inferiorly pass into the normal longitudinal strie; the pores
situated about in the middle of the side, .in the posterior half
immediately behind the groove which here is sinuate: anal somite
covered with a reticulated pattern of striole; the upper portion
irregularly grooved longitudinally; transversely impressed and
angled posteriorly, but not produced into a tail, merely covering
and not overlapping the upper angles of the valves; valves with
their margins but little convex, but strongly and somewhat widely
compressed ; sternite with hinder border convex.
Legs very smooth, with a single set on the lower surface of each
segment.
Number of somites 64-65; length up to 117 mm.
The British Museum has two dried and faded examples of this
species from Ceylon (Templeton); Mr. Green brought one from
Punduloya, which, seeing that it is not faded, I have selected as the
type of the new species. This specimen is the smallest of the three,
measuring only 70 mm. in length; whereas Templeton’s examples
measure 90 and 117 mm. respectively.
Sp. contemptus of Karsch is related to Sp. inscudptus ; the two may
indeed prove to be synonymous, but in the description of Sp. contemptus,
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 165
nothing is said about the size of the species, er the number
of segments, or the distance between the eyes, and the segments
are described as being laterally and superiorly ‘“ subgranulosa,
’ and since the former epithet certainly does not to my mind
intelligibly express the sculpturing of Sp. insculptus, I must provi-
sionally, at all events, look upon the two species as distinct.
rugosa,’
Spirestrevtus lankaensis, Humbert.
(Pl. 0, fig.-6.)
Op. cit., p. 40.
Colour (in alcohol); head ochraceo-fuscous; antenncee fuscous,
flavo-annulate ; /egs ochraceous, concolorous, anal somite fuscous, with
margins of valves and apex of tail ochraceous; rest of the somites
fuscous anteriorly, ochraceous posteriorly.
Body long and slender ; sub-cylindrical. Head and face convex,
smooth and shining; with a very faint sulcus above; four labral
punctures; eyes widely separated, composed of about 39 ocelli
arranged in six transverse series ; antenne moderately long, stretch-
ing to the end of second somite.
Somites ; collum laterally narrowed, its anterior’ border straight,
anterior angle widely rounded, inferior border lightly convex, posterior
angle nearly squared, a wide and deep sulcus running from the pos-
terior angle as high as the eye, defining a narrow inferior border
and a wide anterior border to the lateral lamina, in front of this
sulcus is a second fine and shorter one reaching half way to the eye,
The rest of the somites (except the anal) with a deep transverse
sulcus; the anterior half concentrically and transversely striolate
anteriorly, the posterior half longitudinally striate throughout, the
striz close-set, ranning from the sulcus and just falling short of the
hinder margin, some longer and some shorter; pores about the
middle of the body, conspicuous, situated in a smooth area, about
one-quarter of the distance between the sulcus and the hinder
margin of the somite; ventral grooves small; anal somite smooth,
produced above into a short straight blunt process which continues
the line of the back and projects slightly beyond the anal valves ;
valves convex, with compressed margins ; sternite posteriorly angled,
defined posteriorly by a groove,
Number of somites 63, Length about 53 mm.; width 3:5.
A single ¢ specimen from Punduloya.
"22
166 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
This species apparently falls into the same category as Sp. caudi-
culatus of Karsch. It may, however, be recognised by its blunt,
straight caudal process, the incompleteness and the varying length
of the tergal striw, the separation of the pores from the sulcus, Xe.
Spirobolus carnifex, (Fabr.).
(iPI> a, fies 9)
Syn. Iulus carnifex, Fabr., Sys. Ent., p. 428; Spec. Ins., 1, p. 530;
Ent. Sys., u1, p. 395, no. 9.
Spirobolus carnifex, Brandt, Recueil., p. 188; Gervais, Ins. Apt.,
iv, p. 163 (1847); C. Koch, Die Myr., i
p. 62, fig. 53 (1863).
Spirobolus ruficollis, Newport, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xiii,
p. 269 (1844).
Mr. Thurston sent two ¢ specimens from Madras. The British
3?
d9
Museum has it also from Ceylon. The type was described from
Tranquebar. ‘Tomésvary has recorded it from Matang in Borneo,
but whether correctly or not Iam unable to judge. C. Koch has
apparently described the right species, but his locality for it, 7. e.,
Georgia (N. America), needs, to my mind, confirmation.
Newport’s species Sp. rujficollis, the type of which is in the British
Museum, is the same as Sp. carnifex.
‘This author gives New Holland as the locality, but upon what
authority Iam unable todetermine. At the present time there is not
a particle of evidence to show whence the specimens were obtained.
In the ¢ the anterior 6 pairs of legs are curiously modified, the
proximal segments being inferiorly produced and somewhat com-
pressed ; on the 3rd, 4th and Sth pairs there projects from between
the legs an elongate, slender, clavate process which is in contact with .
its fellow of the opposite side; the processes are outgrowths of the
basal segment of the legs. There appear to be no suctorial pads
upon the feet in this sex.
The anterior unpaired portion of the copulatory foot is composed
distinctly of three rami, two projecting obliquely upwards and out-
wards to embrace the summits of the lateral moieties and hold them
together, the third slender, shorter, and pointed projects in the
middle line, far below the lowest point of the anterior portion of the
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 167
lateral moiety, and almost as far as the lowest point of its posterior
portion ; the anterior portion terminates below in a strong spiniform
process, the posterior portion is somewhat slender and pediform.
Spirobolus goési, Porath.
Syn. Spirobolus goésit, Porath, Bih. Sv. Vet. Ak. Handl., iv, p. 36
| (1876); id., Ann. Soc. Est. Belg., xxxii,
pp. 244, 245 (1889).
», Spirobolus dominic, Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (6), 11,
(1888), pp. 481-483, pl. xvi, figs. f£.-£°
(1888).
One specimen from Madras (Mr. Thurston).
This species is very widely spread, and its synonymy almost
certainly not yet known.
So far as can be at present determined Porath’s name has the prior-
ity ; but there is little doubt, in my opinion, that this name will have
ultimately to give way to some other at present not yet identified. This
species is very commonly met with in the Oriental Region. Porath has
recorded it from Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. The British Museum has
examples from Assam, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cochin-China, Singa-
pore, the Seychelles, and from Dominica in the W. Indies. I have
carefully compared the type of dominice with examples from many loca-
lities in. the old world and can find for it no differential characters,
Spirobolus thurstoni, sp. n.
(Plies? 9 5.plai fos. Sy)
Colour (in alcohol); head rufo- or griseo-olivaceous, margin of
labrum ochraceous; antennz and legs ochraceous; segments deep
bluish-grey in front of the sulcus, piceo-castaneous behind it,
anterior border of collum pale, anal somite wholly brown.
Head and face punctured and striolate, the vertex with a very
feeble sulcus, the face with a longitudinal sulcus, the labral margin
widely excavated, bearing two widely separated punctures on each
side; eyes forming an irregularly rounded cluster composed of about
32 ocelli; widely separated.
Somites ; collum finely punctured and striolate, its anterior border
smooth, laterally gradually narrowed, with apex blunt, rounded
behind, squared in front, not marked with groove or crests, the
168 . JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
anterior border being undefined; the second segment also punctured
and striolate, produced laterally below the level of the collum and
sending forwards a strong angular process beneath it, which projects
as far forwards as the anterior margin of the collum; the rest of the
segments (except the anal) with a well-marked transverse circular
groove, the anterior piece above ornamented with fine anastomosing
striee which behind become imperceptibly coarser, when the pattern
takes the form of a multitude of close-set semilunar pits, laterally and
inferiorly this portion is ornamented behind with irregularly branch-
ing longitudinal striz ; the transverse groove marked laterally with
a series of pits; the posterior half is a little elevated, longitudinally
suleate at the sides, punctured and obscurely longitudinally striolate
above, nearly smooth posteriorly ; pores conspicuous, all on a level
above the middle of the body, in front of the transverse sulcus; anal
somite punctured and rugulose, a well developed, basally sub-com-
pressed, nearly smooth, caudal process; the process nearly continuing
the line of the back, usually nearly straight, rarely markedly down
curled, never up-curled, projecting far beyond the margin of the
valves ; valves punctured convex, border convex above, nearly straight
beneath, nearly smooth, strongly compressed, the compressed part
above more than half the length of the convex part; sternite forming
distinctly an obtuse angled triangle.
Legs short and very smooth, each segment furnished Themen with
a single distal seta, a single seta above the terminal claw.
Number of segments 45 ; length about 80 mm.
$. Slenderer than the 9; the distal segment of the legs with
adhesory disk throughout its length. - |
Copulatory feet ; the median anterior piece very long, tongue-like,
projecting below nearly as far as the apex of the lateral pieces,
excavated superficially, ending above in two long stout processes which
embrace the summits of the lateral portions; anterior portion, right
and left halves, externally convex; the posterior portion projecting
inferiorly far below the anterior, bluntly pointed below with a
conspicuous notch on its external border, the notch bounded below by
a conspicuous process and passing posteriorly into a wide excavated
area; central (protrusible) portion anteriorly evenly convex, upper
half stout, lower half ending in two processes, an upper shorter,
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 169
wider, bearing a strong curved pointed tooth, and a lower, longer,
more slender, bearing an apical curved spine, and posteriorly more or
less membranous.
Several specimens from Madras (Mr. Thurston).
This species, with which I have great pleasure in associating
Mr. Thurston’s name, appears to fall into the same category as
Sp. vogesi of Karsch from New Hanover. It, at least, however, differs
in having the collum not marked with a sulcus, and the second
somite below produced forwards.
Spirobolus uroceros, sp. 0.
(Plu, tiene)
Colour : the posterior half of the segment probably piceous and the
anterior more or less cinereous ; face, antenne and legs ochraceous.
Face tolerably flat, with a short frontal sulcus, and a conspicuous long
sulcus dividing the labral region, punctulate, with four labral pores,
two near the middle and two-at the sides; antenne short although of
normal length for the genus; eyes composed of about 43 ocelli
arranged in 6 or 7 transverse rows; the distance between them about
equal to a diameter and a half.
Collum punctulate, coarsely punctured along its posterior border ;
neither striate nor sulcate laterally, and with an almost obsolete
marginal sulcus, the anterior angle nearly a right angle, the pos-
terior angle widely convex, the posterior border sloping obliquely
backwards and upwards from the posterior angle; the 2nd segment
projecting inferiorly below the level of the first, with its inferior
portion produced forwards to a point on a level with the anterior
angle of the collum. The hinder half of all the segments, except
the first and last, furnished posteriorly with distinct coarser and
finer tubercles, which gradually disappear inferiorly and laterally,
and give place to longitudinal striz, the anterior portion, lower than
the posterior portion, nearly smooth, the sterna striate, The anal
somite of large size, punctulate, compressed above and produced into
a long, stout, smooth, pointed, slightly down-turned caudal process .
margins of the anal valves strongly compressed. Pores situated in
front of the transverse sulcus and above the middle of the side ; the
first on a level with the rest. Ventral grooves short.
Legs with a single seta on the under surface of each segment.
170 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL.HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
Number of segments 49. Length about 120 mm.
A single @ specimen from Madras (Jerdan coll.)
This species may be readily recognised by its long hooked caudal
process, and the tubercular ornamentation of the tergites. This last
character is one by which it may be ait once distinguished from
Sp. thurstoni, which in other respects it seems to approach.
Spirobolus greent, sp. D.
CRIS ties. 10) 1 0ar))
Colour (in alcohol); head infuscate, antennz infuscate, paler at
the base ; collum infuseate with paler borders, rest of the somites
bluish slate-grey, with a single large, wide, fulvous spot on the pos-
terior half on each side of the middle line of the back, anal somite
fulvous, slightly fuscous above; legs wholly fulvous.
Head and face smooth, the latter marked with a longitudinal suleus,
and with two pores on each side; antenne very long for the genus,
reaching to about the 4th or 5th somite; eyes large, widely separated,
composed of about 50 well defined ocelli.
Somites without scobina; collum punctulate and rugulose, not pro-
duced so low as the inferior extension of the second, the apex obtusely
rounded, with the margins nearly straight, ¢.e., only slightly convex,
the apex and the anterior margin as high as the eye defined by a
sulcus ; the posterior half of the other segments much higher than the
anterior, marked laterally as high as the pores with distinct sub-parallel
longitudinal striz, the upper part above the pores marked with punc-
tures and irregularly scattered, abbreviated, anastomosing striz, form-
ing an obscurely reticulated pattern; the anterior portion marked
above with circular or elliptical areas, and below with oblique more or
less curved strize which are continuous with the striz of the posterior
portion ; pores situated above the middle of the sides, in the posterior
half of each somite the first a little lower than the second. Anal somate
punctulate, the upper part produced into a short, blunt, straight,
slightly compressed caudal process, projecting a little beyond the
margin of the valves; valves convex, strongly but narrowly compress-
ed, the upper angle not compressed and a little produced; sternite
posteriorly rounded and angulate.
Legs slender, elongate, with a single seta on the lower edge of each
segment.
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 71
Number of somites about 40; length about 35-mm. Punduloya
(Mr. Green).
Like Sp. spirostreptinus of Karsch in having long antenne, in the
position of its pores, &c. But differs in sculpturing, Sp. spirostreptinus
having the upper part of its segments roughened with longitudinal stric,
Spirobolus longicornis, sp. n.
(Fle iitieeth 4s
Colour (in alcohol); head fusco-testaceous, antenn testaceous,
infuscate at the apex, legs ochraceous, somites with ferruginous
posterior portions, fuscous anterior portions, anal somite paler.
Head and face smooth, vertex marked with a slender sulcus; face
marked with a sulcus, and furnished with 2 pores on each side;
antennze long as in the preceding species; eyes composed of about
30 ocelli.
Somites; collum finely reticulated, not produced inferiorly so low
as the second somite, its inferior angle less narrowed, more rounded,
with convex posterior and lightly concave anterior border, pos-
teriorly striolate, anteriorly marked with a marginal sulcus ; posterior
part of the rest of the somites scarcely higher than the anterior, and
ornamented throughout with exceedingly fine, close-set, sub-parallel
striola, but these striola, instead of being absolutely longitudinal,
are slightly oblique, diverging slightly from the median dorsal line
which is a little elevated, the anterior portion with scobina, marked
below laterally with longitudinal striole continuous with those of
the posterior portion, and above with a distinctly defined reticulated
network formed by the anastomosis of striolze; pores above the middle
in the hinder half of each somite, the first scarcely below the level of
the rest. Anal somite punctulate and striolate, produced above into a
short, blunt, markedly compressed process which projects a little
beyond the margin of the anal valves; valves convex with borders
compressed ; sternite conspicuously angled.
Legs slender, elongate, with a single seta on the under edge of each
segment.
Number of somites 40-42; length up to about 32 mm.
Punduloya (Mr. Green).
Resembles the preceding species and Sp. spirostreptinus in having
long antenne, but differs from both in coiouring, in being furnished
172 - JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
with the so-called scobina, &c. Probably most nearly related to
Sp. crebrestriatus of Humbert, which it somewhat resembles in sculp-
turing and in possessing the so-called scobina. It may, however, be
recognised by the much greater convexity of the margins of the
anal valves, and by the strongly-angled border of the anal sternite,
and by the differences of colour.
Spirobolus longicollis, sp. n.
(Pit, gs) 10%)
Colour (in alcohol); pale testaceous throughout, the anterior halt
of the somites only being of a deeper greyish tint.
Head nearly smooth, the face marked with a short longitudinal
sulcus; two widely separated pores on each side of the labral region ;
eyes widely separated, composed of about 380 indistinctly defined
ocelli ; antenne very short, scarcely reaching to the margin of the
collum.
Somites without scobina; col/um punctured throughout, produced
laterally below the inferior extension of the succeeding somite,
narrowed to a rounded apex with convex posterior border and
straight anterior border, the apex and the anterior border as high as
the eye defined by a groove, the rest not sulcate; the second and
succeeding segments divided into an anterior and posterior portion
by a groove; the posterior portion is more elevated than the anterior,
punctured and obscurely and irregularly striolate above, longitudinally
striate at the sides, the anterior portion marked laterally and
inferiorly with oblique close-set strive, which becoming more and
more curved dorsally, eventually pass into elliptical and crescentic
areas on the upper surface; pores, all on a level above the middie of
the side, in the posterior half of the somites well behind the trans-
verse groove; anal somite punctulate, the upper surface produced
posteriorly into a stout, blunt, cylindrical, slightly down-turned
caudal process which projects a little beyond the anal valves; valves
convex with strongly but narrowly compressed borders; sternite
transversely elongate, with nearly straight hinder border.
Legs slender, with a single seta on the under surface of each
segment.
Number of segments 38 or 40; length about 28 mm.
Two female specimens from Punduloya (Mr. Green).
REPORT UPON TWO COLLECTIONS OF MYRIOPODA. 173
Differs from all the known Ceylonese forms in that ‘the collum
extends laterally below the level of the 2nd somite.
Family, Polyzonide.
Siphonophora humberti, sp. n.
Colour (in alcohol) uniformly ochraceous.
Body slender, composed of 60 segments.
Head ovate, about as long as the rostrum which is lightly curved ;
antenne about as long as the rostrum.
Somites lightly convex above, meeting the pleurz at an obtuse
angle, and separated from them by a distinct suture, neither tuber-
cular nor carinate. (The upper part of some of the somites is higher
than the others. But since there is no symmetry in these elevations
I shall regard them as abnormalities, until evidence to the contrary
is forthcoming.) Anal somite blunt posteriorly.
The head and upper part of the somites densely and coarsely
hairy and granular; pleure granular but less hairy ; rostrum smooth.
Length about 12 mm.
A single specimen from Punduloya (Mr. Greer).
Only one species of this genus has hitherto been recorded from
Ceylon, namely, S. picteti of Humbert. This species is unknown
to me, but judging from the figure, it is much stouter in build
than the one here described. Moreover, the somites are laterally
carinate.
(To be continued.)
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE I.
1. Zephronia heterosticatica, Newp. (nat. size).
», 2. Stemmiulus ceylonicus, sp. n. (X 8).
3. Leptodermus tanjoricus, sp. n. (X 2).
Hf 8a. 5 , copulatory foot.
ee OU: Ss es posterior leg of 6th somite of 3.
» 4. Strongylosoma phipsont, sp. n. (X 2).
mi eae o cingalense, Humb., copulatory foot.
ses Os “ skinneri, Humb., copulatory foot.
» « Spirostreptus nigrolabiatus, Newp. (nat. size),
Bh Ge Ff insculptus, sp. n. (nat. size).
23
174
JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
9. Spirobolus thurstoni, sp. nu. (nat. size).
10. s greent, sp. n. (X 2).
10a. Be a », one of the body segments.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE II.
1. Pyrgodesmus obscurus, gen, et sp. n. (nat. size).
la. A 4 os (enlarged).
1d. =p a ce antenna.
2. Cryptodesmus ceylonicus, sp. n., dorsal view (xX 6).
2a. os es dorsal view of one of the
keels.
2b. os as . antenna.
2c. Bs - leg.
3. - greeni, sp. n., dorsal view of one of the keels.
4, Spirostreptus centrurus, sp. u., collum, anal somite and
median somite (nat. size).
D. és nigrolabiatus, Newp., copulatory feet, front
view. ;
6. * lankaensis, Humb.
7. Spirobolus uroceros, sp. n., collum, anal somite and median
somite (nat. size).
8. ee thurstoni, sp. n., copulatory feet, anterior view.
9. oF carnifex (Fabr.} ey A a
10. 39 longicollis, sp.n., anterior and posterior ends
of the body.
1k; 35 longicornis 5 A ig sa a
12. Paradesmus kelaarti, Humb., copulatory foot.
13. Strongylosoma phipsoni, sp. 0. ie s
14, 9 greenr 2 ” ”
N.B.—The figures of these plates are not entirely satisfactory. Where dis-
crepancies are to be found between the figures and the descriptions, the former
must be regarded as in error.
JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOC. Plate C.
Robt Wroughton. del. Govt Photozinco: Office. Poona (891.
JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOC. Plate D.
13
Rob? Wroughton del. ra : Gov! Photozinca: Office, Poona 183|
OUR ANTS,
By Rosert Cuartes Wrovcuton, F.r.s., Deputy Conservator
of Forests, Poona.
Parr II.
With Plates C and D.
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 15th April, 1892.)
DORYLIDZ.
Gen. 26. Doryius (Fab.).
Pedicle with one knot; antennz 12-jointed.
104. D. guvenculus (Shuck.).
Poona Dists. (¢).
Bombay, through H. M. Phipson (¢ ).
Among the Dorylide the various sex-forms are so astonishingly
different, and, owing to their subterranean and nocturnal habits, have
so seldom been taken together, that the described species contain only 3
or ¥, never both ; fora long time indeed the 3 Dorylus was placed in a
separate genus, Typhlopone. Jerdon and others, however, took Dorylus
and Typhlopone in the same nest, and it isnow generally admitted that
they are one genus. Yet another genus Dickthadia, which contains
two species (one specimen of each species has been taken) of most
extraordinary looking apterous insects, is conjectured to be the 9?
of Dorylus-Typhlopone. Until the ¢ and 8 can again be taken
together and examined by an expert, they must remain as at
present different species. D. juvenculus is the commonest species;
he is well over an inch long, a very large part being abdomen, which
is so unwieldy that it is not ‘carried’ but ‘trailed’ by its owner.
They come freely to the light at night. E. H. A., in his “ Tribes on
my Frontier,” describes a ‘flight’ of this insect which emerged in
his bath-room. These flights, I have reason to believe, occur frequently
in Bombay, and I would ask members, should they be present at such
a flight, that they will secure and send me some specimens of the
together with the % which invariably come out to see them off.
This species is also found on the Mediterranean littoral.
105. D. longicornis (Shuck.).
Poona Dists, ( ¢ ).
WE UCU: See tne coch oases! atone: G. A. J. Rothney (3),
176 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
This species, though fully an inch long, is smaller and slighter than
D. juvenculus.
106. Dorylus ( Typhlopone) sp.
Poona Dists. (8 ).
I have no doubt that this will prove to be the 8 of D. jucenculus.
107. Dorylus (Typhtlopone) sp.
Maan Mir, Panijabccccsece 3s Major Sage ( 3).
108. Dor. (Typhlopone) orientalis (Westwood).
Caleutiacies mrceneniscce vce encte set G. A. J. Rothney (3%).
Gen. 27. ALAopone (Emery).
Pedicle of one knot; antenne 9-jointed.
109. Al. oberthuri (Kmery).
Poona Dists. ( ).
Orissa oe cen tinaescer suse so agi er Jas. Taylor (8).
Wallcutitatee scene eco cease ....G. A.J. Rothney.
Mr. Taylor notes of this species: ‘It never appears outside the
*‘ cround, at any rate during the day. J hada lot of damage
“ done to my trunks by them, as they eat them just like Termites
“do, and also cut through my cauliflower stalks below the
‘oround.” I donot know the 3, but have sometimes wondered
whether D. longicornis could be he.
Gen. 28. Atnicrus (Shuck.).
Pedicle with two knots.
(Nort.—This applies to the 3; the $ has a strong family likeness
to Dorylus 3, but is much smaller, the largest I know being only
4 inch long).
110. A. wroughtoni (Forel MS.).
Poona Dists. (¢ ).
Dhane Disthey eee cee F. Gleadow (¢, 8, 31-83-90).
Dharmisala,sPunjab. <2... Major Sage (a variety; 3).
AB. wroughtoni is the only species of the genus of which the ¢ and
% are known; allthe other species contain only 3 org. The do
and 8 of this species were taken together by Mr. Gleadow in the
Rest House at Sawa, near Dahanu. By this discovery the genus
Typhiatta, which formerly contained the various known species of & ,
OUR ANTS. “77,
was merged in Ainictus. A detailed description of this species by
Dr. Forel has been reprinted in this Journal.
111. 4. ambiguus (Shuck.).
Poona Dists. (3).
This is the largest species I know; it is not uncommon in the
Dekhan, coming to the light at night, especially in the hot weather
months.
112. 4. latiscapus. (Forel MS.).
Poona Dists. ( ¢ ).
113. 4. clavatus (Forel MS.).
Poona Dists. ( ¢ ).
114. 4. ceylonicus (Mayr).
(ig PrOWINCOS S ses cai beesrasan.cns J. A. Betham (¥% ).
115. 4. bengalensis (Mayr).
ONT LO os vatinr aciete 6a rain nae G. A. J. Rothney ( 3 ; type).
RGN Bo ait ws stain eva yeee G. A. J. Rothney (variety).
116. 4. brevicornis (Mayr).
Me MG Wars iosns inew sev samcteseonice G. A.J. Rothney ( 3 ; type).
117. 4. aitkeni (Forel MS.).
ORO fs tates core CriS bars ae teh ee uh by atone E. H. Aitken (3).
Thana Dists. .......-.... ........F. Gleadow (a variety; 3 ).
118. 4. binghami (Forel MS8.). )
PATE ac cinta ocss eta erie Major C. T. Bingham (3% ).
119. Anictus sp.
Poona Dists.
This is theonly species of § I have ever met ; but itis far from un-
common in the Dekhan, Notwithstanding the possession by nictus
% of two knots in the pedicle like the Myrmicide, she is distinctly
ponerine in character and carries her booty exactly asdo the Poneride.
She has brought the military organization to perfection. Perhaps on
account of her small size, (single-handed she does not seem able to
cope with a Pheidole, as small as or smaller than herself), she cannot
afford to relax discipline, like Lobopelta, even in the moment of victory.
Whatever the reason, a column of Anictus (5 or 6 abreast), so long
as it is above ground, never shows the slightest irregularity. The
destination of the column is not fixed beforehand by scouts, as is
apparently the case with Lohopelta. It starts, and proceeds at a long
178 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
slinging trot, until a likely hole, crevice, or ants’ nest is met with,
when it pours in, until enough having entered, the remainder of
the column goes on, in search of another hole. Moreover at times,
when on the march, the column at a certain point in its length, turns
offat anangle, striking out a new line, and, though this manceuvre
is often repeated, so far as I have seen, it never happens a few files
from the head of the column, but always so that each column shall
be strong enough to cope with any ant community likely to be
met with. Indeed, this manceuvre seems often to be of the
nature of a flanking movement. I have seen a strong column,
marching on a white ant heap, detach, in this way, columns right
and left, and the several detached columns enter the heap from
different points of the compass. The notion irresistibly forced
on any one, watching these manceuvres,is that they are either the
result of preconcerted arrangement, or are carried out by word of
command.
MYRMICID ZA.
Gen. 29. Caravzacus (Smith).
The most striking characteristics of this genus are ‘flatness’ and
‘raggedness’; every ‘edge’ is serrate or crenelate, and every
corner (usually a curve in other ants) is produced into a ‘tooth’ or
spine.
120. Cat. latus (Forel MS8.).
RoonasDistssceesncocasocenee (14-6-90, 3, $, @).
Thana Dists. ....... s.soeee-L. Gleadow (a variety).
I found a nest of this species in the hollow bough of a tree; on
opening the nest I found the tunnel full of larvee and pupe, and
lined with the pupe of some kind of Lycena(?); I tried hard, but
failed to rear the butterfly, the pupze apparently reyuiring the moist
atmosphere of the ants’ nest, and possibly the tender care of the ants.
I have always found the nest of this species in hollows in growing
trees.
121. Cat. granulatus (Smith).
Tounghoo,) Burma) 222... K. Y. Watson.
122. Cat. taprobane (Smith).
Colomibon aacasetecce nececnest G. A. J. Rothney.
OUR ANTS. 179
Gen. 30. Meranopius (Smith).
I have been unable to obtain any scientific details about this and
the preceding genus. Meranoplus is a small ant, which by its hairi-
ness reminds one strongly of a Mutilla; once seen it can never be
mistaken for any other ant. The antenne are 9-jointed.
123. Mer. bicolor (Guérin).
Poona, Dists.0. 3.).eRszesatiaate (24-1-90, $ ).
AMAT AS. haved setae sealacctd en ae E. H. Aitken.
Salem, Madrag. vite <aeccorer nes A. Burroughs Sharpe.
Waleatte | sxc eect: G. A. J. Rothney (3,9, 8, May, 1873).
Upper and Lower Burma... E. Y. Watson.
Gy lOW. ne wosseds ev ssieescaes .-... Major Yerbury.
M. bicolor is very sluggish in her movements ; she rolls herself up
into a ball on the smallest provocation, and always dies in that posi-
tion. The nest is subterranean, and the ones I have explored were
on the typical myrmicine plan ; the grain harvested being brought home
‘clean’ and stored in the subsidiary chambers. I found the entrance
to the nest, in one case, strewn with the petals of a lilac flower.
Mr. Aitken also notes: ‘I found several nests last February, with
“the ants busy collecting minute bluish flowers; these were taken
‘‘into the nest, something extracted from them, and then the
“petals (whole corollas rather) thrown out.”
Gen. 31. TriciypHorurtx (Forel).
To the ordinary observer this genus is apparently a very small
Meranoplus ; in it the main hairs are trifurcate, whence its name. A
detailed description of this genus has been reprinted in this Journal.
124. Trig. walshi (Forel).
Poona.
Coonoor, Madras ............ R. W. Daly.
Pooree, Bengal ...........0+8. D. Walsh (type).
This is the only species of the genus. In its appearance, move-
ments, architecture, habits and tricks it is an under-study of Merano-
plus. In one nest I opened there were some minute hymenopterous
insects which I took at first for ¢, but which were not so. Unfor-
tunately they were blown away while I was examining them under
the microscope. They were evidently either pets or cattle. There
180 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
is some doubt whether this is not a synonym of Tetr. lanuginosum
(Roger), in which case it will become Trighyphothrix lanuginosus. I
cannot repeat too often that such points must necessarily be left
doubtful for the present. Dr. Forel can only devote his studies to
one genus ata time. A monograph on Camponotus has been com-
pleted and another genus is in hand, the rest must wait their turn.
Gen. 382. Hoxtcomyrmex (Mayr).
The antenne are 12-jointed, the 3 terminal joints, forming the
club, are shorter than the rest of the flagellum (7.e., than the rest of
the antenne, excluding the scape, or first joint): the abdomen is
truncate at the base.
125. 4H. scabriceps (Mayr).
Poona Gistsxeace, Geceiccte csc ee (10-3-90, @).
Kiama etehls ialien ofan amaney E. H. Aitken.
@ Provinces iss. eececne. See ar J. A. Betham.
Salematy Miadiasis ce. caatbaca sn tccses. A. Burroughs Sharpe.
Uihcnar Districts peaqcecce seers F. Gleadow.
Nuddea; Barrackpore ............... G. A. J. Rothney (type).
Fatbarerllas@udhisnedscsrasce ree: Dr. Simpson.
Omissaityrs saerscsee sont secceternicanes Jas. Taylor.
In a community of this genus thereare ¥ of all sizes. Holcomyrmex
is, as a rule, a most industrious harvester, and sets about her
work in a most methodical way. The 3 never forage individually
for grain, but all take the same road and all return by the same
road ; the result being that every nest is the starting point of one
and often of several, well-beaten tracks, cleared of vegetation and
obstacles, and extending sometimes 100 feet and more in length.
How these tracks are engineered I have never discovered, but am
pretty certain that they are made gradually ; a commencement at
hazard is made, and, as the country immediately adjoining the road
is exploited, the road itselfis carried forward. Where one of these
roads crosses a sheet of bare rock, it is there marked in white; Ican
only presume that this is the result of some chemical action, set up
by the formic acid exuding from the ants; this acid, though too
small in quantity in a single ant to cause any appreciable effect,
might easily become sufficient when thousands of ants are continu-
ally passing, backwards and forwards, all day long. Holeomyrmex
OUR ANTS. 181
brings home the grain unthreshed, and, in this form, it is taken into
the nest, from whence the chaff is brought out, and deposited round
the entrance, or, where the force of a prevalent wind is felt, in a
heap to leeward. The normal nest of Holcomyrmew is on the typical
plan ; she, however, adapting herself easily to circumstances. Thereis
a note on this species in Mr. Rothney’s paper, under the name of
HI. indicus.* Mr, Rothney considers this species as the ‘harvester’
par excellence, and to some extent she deserves the title for her ingenuity
in saving time by methodical labour. She cannot, I think, compare
with Pheidole in results achieved; she is handicapped by her shape,
her huge head, long body, and short legs rendering cross country
work most difficult for her; indeed, it is possibly these disabilities
which have driven her to evolve road-making to enable her to hold
her own in the struggle for existence.
Mr. Rothney, writing to me on this subject, says:—‘‘In the
“Calcutta District Pheidole is but poorly represented, and I have not
“met with any harvesting instincts worthy of the name, while
“ Holcomyrmex is a great ‘harvester;’ but, removed from the compe-
‘tition of Pheidole, does not work quite so systematically in the way
“of ‘walks’ or ‘tracks’ as she seems to do on the Bombay side.”
During breaks in the rains Holcomyrmez brings her stores of grain
to the surface, evidently to dry: I have never seen any Pheidole
do this.
126. H. criniceps (Mayr).
Poona WisGricts ied. ceccecedeues (11-6-90, 3, 2).
Thana Districts........... seeeseeL. Gleadow (Xmas, 90, 5,92)
GEO ie cecenda shes tuna .....Major Yerbury (a variety).
NM AGEAS 1. Sccdvsuseiaadsthscssseves le aide OUNnEY’.
This species I have only found round about Poona.
In nesting and habits it does not differ from H. scabriceps. I took
the sexes ‘swarming’ in June.
127. HH. criniceps (Mayr); race nigra (Forel MS.).
Podnal Districts: «....-s0s8+sceas (30-4-90, 9).
This is the common form on the Poona Ghats, where alone I have
taken it. Curiously enough it is there associated not with H. criniceps
* Note.—This error of nomenclature was due to the late Frederick Smith, but was
corrected in the Transactions of the Entom. Society of London, 1889, Part V.
24
182 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
but with H. scabriceps. I sawa migration of this species, on one
occasion, in April; there were plenty of 2, but only one d. This is
curious, as, usually, there are plenty of ¢ in an ants’ nest before the
first @ is hatched. I took the sexes swarming in June.
128. H. giaber (André).
Poona Districts.
This and the next are cretin forms of Holeomyrmex. H. glaber is
small, bleached, and feeble-looking ; her nest is placed under a stone,
and extends to no depth. There are no roads and no sign of life
outside the nest and no grain-refuse at the entrance, but the
chambers contain grain.
129. #H. glaber (André) ; race clara (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
H. clara is very like H. giaber proper, but still more feeble,
130. Holeomyrmex, sp.
pa Vanicore et cce cece dau ale soos skctn ene H. 8. Ferguson,
This species has not yet received her “ given name.”
Gen. 33. APHG@NOGASTER (Mayr).
Antenne much as in Holcomyrmex; abdomen not truncate at the
base.
131. <Aph. beccarii (Emery).
Poona Districts.
Wanlaval sccccasatsosenconssence esse: EK. H. Aitken (variety).
A. beccarvi is common enough all over the moist zone of the Dekhan,
but I have only once found a nest, a mere depression under a stone,
containing larve and pupe, but no sexes, not even an apterous 2.
The g comes freely to the light durmg March, April, and May.
The shape of this ant is very characteristic ; it looks like two small
shiny black beads, joined by a black line (about + inch long, over
all) and mounted on long legs. The 3 moreover has a curious way
of walking about on tip-toe with the abdomen tucked forward under
the thorax. In many ways A. beccarii is ponerine in her habits; for
instance, a 8 never seems to call for help from her companions, but
rather to desert a prey which happens to be too large for her own
unaided powers. She never, however, carries a load in the ponerine
OUR ANTS, 183
fashion. It is curious that this markedly carnivorous species should
have been bracketted, in the same genus with the next species but
one, which is exclusively a vegetarian, and even a harvester; it is
now proposed to separate these latter into a new genus Wessor,
Mr. Aitken sent me a fine red-headed variety of A. beccarii from
Kanara.
132. Aphenogaster, sp.
i anOtaly es) acctendaes see otee sets Major Sage (8-91, ¢, @).
This new species was brought from Lahoul by Major Sage, but
has not yet been named by Dr. Forel.
133. <Aph. ( Messor ) barbarus (Linn.),
Var. a—Dharamsala, Punjab ............ Major Sage.
Raw Darou, Otdily) ‘a7. sc .wsaesssersveasten Dr. Simpson.
Var. b—Rai Bareilli, Oudh............... Dr. Simpson.
Var. c—Dharamsala, Punjab ............ Major Sage.
Var. d—Mount Abu, Rajputana......... F. Gleadow.
Vars. e and f—Agra; Delhi; Lahore ;
Benares ; Mussoorie, N.-W.P.......... .G, A. J. Rothney.
This seems to be a most variable species. Major Sage notes it as
harvesting seeds. This species, with a number of ‘races’ and
‘varieties,’ is found in Egypt, Tunis, &c., where it apparently
behaves exactly like our Holcomyrmex. Mr. Rothney writes of
variety e (ff was taken at Mussoorie) which Dr. Forel has
provisionally named var. punctatus: ‘This ant, like the bee
Apis dorsata, seems to have a great liking for the buildings of the old
Moghul Emperors; the bee frequenting the roofs, the ant the steps.
You can always find this species in the Taj gardens, Secundra,
Itmad-ud-Daulah (Agra), under the great gateway of Fatehpore
Sikri at Tughlukabad (Delhi), Shah Dara of Jehangir (Lahore), and
the Man Mandir (Benares). It will always be associated in my
mind with the ‘Lions of the North-West.”
Gen. 34. Myrmicarta (Saunders),
Antenne 7-jointed.
134. Myr. subcarinata (Emery).
Poona Districts.
TE STROMAN ai Sonaccie soe. E. H. Aitken, T. D. Bell, H. Palliser.
184 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Travancore............H. 8. Ferguson.
Omiesa, oo.c0 3. heceenee: Jas. Taylor (16-6-90, 9).
Pegu Hills, Burma...Major C. T. Bingham (a variety).
Benares; Calcutta ...G. A. J. Rothney.
Ceylon.) scac die Major Yerbury.
In my experience this is the laziest ant in India; though not
uncommon, I have never seen it do anything but ‘loaf.’
Mr. Rothney, however, says:—‘‘ This species is not uncommon in
“Bengal, and forms its nests by excavating the earth round the
‘trunks of trees, throwing it up in mounds of very fine grains,
“away from the trunk, and so making a ditch or fosse round the
“tree. The winged sexes ‘swarm’ July 7th to 10th, and are very
“handsome in appearance. There was (and probably still is). a nest,
‘Cor rather colony, at the big banian tree in Barrackpore Park, near
“the Trunk Road, which I have known from 1872 to 1886, not only
‘“‘ig the main stem more or less encircled by these ditches, but many
‘‘of the minor ones are partly surrounded by earthworks, some
“being completely so. It forms the largest ant-work I have met
“with in India. These fosses make excellent traps for other insects,
‘‘and a very respectable and miscellaneous list of captures can
‘“‘always be made from them, such as other species of ants, woodlice,
“bugs, cockroaches, &e., &c. These, if so melined, one might
“describe as ant-‘pets,’ but I have never been able to trace the least
“‘eonnection between these casuals and WM. subcarinata, and I think their
“‘ presence is purely accidental. As regards food-supply, I. subcarinata
“lives much like a polyrachis.” *
135. Myr. longipes (Smith).
var. birmana (Forel MS.).
Yoonzaleen Valley, Burma ............ Major C. T. Bingham.
Gen. 35. LerrorHorax (Mayr).
Antenne 11-jointed, of which the 3 last form the club; metanotum
armed ; spurs wanting on the intermediate and posterior legs.
136. Lept. inermis (Forel MS.).
Dharamsala, Punjab..................... Major Sage.
* Since the above was writteu, I have seen this species in Kanara, where it is very
common. It is there, as described by Mr. Rothney, a great “crater’’ builder.
OUR ANTS. 185
Gen. 36. TETRAMoRIuM (Mayr).
Antenne 12-jointed, thorax not constricted ; metanotum dentate ;
spurs simple.
137. Tetr. obesum (André).
Poona Districts.
PORANA pees mn csne don tama ee cos K. H. Aitken.
MW ALCUUGD —\lscnnerck ine csiaeeevene: G. A. J. Rothney (variety).
T have several times seen 7. obesum harvesting some vegetable
product (not grain) which looked like dead wood, or fungus.
Dr. Forel records of a Tunisian species, that he found them, as
slaves, in the nests of other ants; though I have never been able to
detect anything approaching to slavery among the Indian ants, I
should not have been astonished to find Tetramorium enslaved, for
her movements and manner remind one irresistibly of the patient,
plodding ass.
138. Tetr. simillimum (Nyl.).
Poona Districts.
In the only nest I have found there was a little grain stored.
The general economy seemed to me to be very much that of Hole.
clarus, a nest of which was close by.
139. Tetr. ccespitum (Lin.).
Poona Districts.
This insect is almost, if not quite, identical with the European form.
140. Tetr. guineense (Fab.).
Piene Eales eres scecnaatee nedueer ed che . E. H. Aitken.
141. Tetr. smithi (Mayr).
Waleattay TOi2 9 wo cnnscencessaesse cee G. A. J. Rothney (type).
Gen. 37. Monomoritum (Mayr).
Antennz 12-jointed, the three terminal joints taken together are
shorter than the rest of the flagellum ; metanotum unarmed.
142. Mon. salomonis (Lin.) ; race indicum (Forel).
(PGOHAMOIEETICES, ... .5032.vaduammaaneniie (6-5-90, $, 2).
Ur Pro yitieed 2. s..5.03vesaneeenme tin J. A. Betham.
UNM oases oce's= «(chance chew man tne noeise' Major C. T. Bingham.
Magne Mie, Pum yjabs.ceb.therc.ves sodas Major Sage.
Rai Bareilli, Oudh......... Sods dence Dr. Simpson.
Madras « Caleutia oi casccscecestsonccs G. A. J. Rothney.
186 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
This is the Indian form of a species very fairly common on the
Mediterranean littoral and in Egypt. It is a phenomenally active
species, and by far the widest ‘ranger’ of all the ants; it is very
common moreover, and hence ubiquitous. It would be quite safe
to affirm that a specimen could be found within 50 yards of any spot
in any grass land in the Poona Districts. It is a harvester, and
in the immediate vicinity of the nest there are usually fairly well-
marked roads; I have occasionally found a community travelling
up and down a tree, where the only attraction could have been
vegetable juices or ‘cattle.’ I took the winged sexes from a nest
early in May.
148. Mon. vastator (Smith).
Poona Districts; Thana Districts.
CEP TOVANEES) oao.52 ciscesbesmacinee teres J. A. Betham.
Calcutta cesecace ss cerieanesnectsesstenea G. A. J. Rothney.
Ceylon Gene neon sigchelne us eneist icra Major Yerbury.
Smith has also described this species, or a variety, under the name
of M. basale; the explanation probably being that this species ‘ varies
enormously. It is almost certainly the ‘brown ant’ referred to m
“Tribes on my Frontier.” MM. basale is very common in the Konkan,
where she isa ‘house’ ant, and is very quick to find any food,
especially sugar, which may be left about. She is slow in her move-
ments, and always travels in single file to the food-supply which is
being harvested. It is curious to watch the scrupulous way iu which
a %, even though there be no other within 6 inches, follows every
winding of the path taken by the 3 in front of her, leading to the
irresistible conclusion that she follows by scent. I have never seen
M. basale harvest grain, but Mr. Aitken tells me that in Bombay “it
“used to carry off the seed from my bird cages. It eats bread too,
“onawing its way into the heart of a loaf, the same with cold
“mutton. It is very fond of olive oil.” Above the Ghats it is a wild
species, but not common.
144. Mon. pharaonis (Lin.).
Poona Districts (a variety).
Mamanarcnecclr shinctad aan Sosdauomeoabndeec E. H. Aitken.
Cal cinttag is jist.s lc cacu tent ora deeicitacsnice G. A. J. Rothney.
This is a European form.
OUR ANTS. 187
145. Mon. mayri (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
Peraniap bP riche... ios... ted aan e cle F. Gleadow.
Woonghoo, Ure. ....3..ecacsatesers <see E. Y. Watson.
I have never found a nest. J. mayri came to some jam I had put
down as bait in a nala; Pheidole naorojt came at the same time, in
large numbers; reinforcements of I. mayri were then sent for,
Pheidole beaten off, and the jam enjoyed without molestation,
except from me.
146. Mon. latinode (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
Mussoorie, N.-W. P.; Calcutta, 1872 ...G. A. J. Rothney.
Orissa ..... Pee ea tained siialaSine nae Raplonesacsnenawees Jas. Taylor.
I have always found it nesting underground; Mr. Rothney found
it in a decayed tree trunk.
147. Mon. wroughtoni (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
I have only taken this species at sugar; it is very timid and
exceptionally nimble.
148. Mon. orientale (Mayr).
Madea STS sic ic skasweeeeas ..G. A. J. Rothney (type).
149. Mon. speculare (Mayr).
ey Oe dave <9 Basan eaceepncacuen at Major Yerbury.
MOBI GWGLE so dy cajociei as’: <n’ Rilaateiseeteee: G. A. J. Rothney.
Major Yerbury writes: “‘ Nest on trunk of a tree resembled nest
“* built by many “Hymenoptera, though substance of nest was decom-
“posed horse dung, not mud.” I have never come across any
attempt by Monomorium to‘ build’ a nest, and think this must have
been an adopted and adapted nest.
150. Monomorium sp.
Poona Districts.
EGO Uitte, sapeeeddtas<+< ewenceices cash dune tteene F. Gleadow.
This is a microscopic yellow species. She came tojam on the same
occasion as M/. mayri, mentioned above; whatever the reason, she was
_avoided by I. mayri and Pheidole alike; she marched down, in a
column only, 30 or 40 strong, unmolested, through the fight raging
all round, ate her fill of jam, and marched off, unmolested, home.
188 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
In Mr. Gleadow’s bungalow, at Poona, a rat, one night, tore a piece
off a panther-skin lying on the floor, in the morning a large number
of § of this species were found, clustered on the newly-exposed
surface.
151. Monomorium sp.
Lanowli, Poona Districts.............0. (18-10-90)
152. Monomorium sp.
Baramati, Poona Districts..........--- (16-12-90)
158. Monomorium sp.
Mulsi, Poona Districts..........00. es... (9-4-91)
154. Monomorium sp. :
Dharmsala, Punjab..........0...s:s0ee8 Major Sage.
155. Monomorium sp.
Myingyan, Burma.........:00...seseee E. Y. Watson.
156. Monomorium sp.
Mt. Abu, Rajputana.............06 000-0 F. Gleadow.
157. Monomorim sp.
Ataran Valley, Burma.................. Major C. T. Bingham.
Most of these species are more or less like J. basale alias vastator.
They must wait until Dr, Forel has leisure to devote to the special
examination of this difficult genus, in their present anonymous form.
Gen. 38. CarpioconpyLa (Emery).
Antenne 12-jointed, the last joint longer than the three preceding
together.
158. C. nuda (Mayr).
Poona Districts (9 ).
CHIL TIE ea Bobodno be aanaugeeanassoncd 950 4050c8 G. A. J. Rothney.
I have never taken the 8 of C. nuda, but found a number of
apterous @ on some rocks in December, 1889. It is a Kuropean
form.
159. C. wroughtoni (Forel).
Poona Districts; Thana Districts ...(4-11-89, ¢ (?),3,2)
On two occasions J have found a number of communities of this
species in blisters on the leaves of Jambhul (Hugenia jambolana)
trees. In each case with the § and 9 of C.wroughtoni I took a single
specimen of an apterous ant, which was described as a new genus
OUR ANTS. 189
by Dr. Forel under the name of Emeriya wroughtoni (a transla-
tion of the detailed description was published in this Journal).
Lately, Dr. Forel took, in South-Eastern Europe, a new species of
Cardiocondyla, and, associated with it, an abnormal ant, analogous to
Emeriya. Dissection of this ant showed it to be a $, and the circum-
stances attending its capture point to it as the ¢ of Cardiocondyla ;
so that Emeriya is almost certainly the $ of C. wroughtoni. This adds
a fresh case te the, already known, very rare ones ofan apterous é ant.
Gen. 39. Sorenorsis (Westwood).
Antenne, in the 3, 10-jointed; in the 9 11-jointed.
160. 8S. geminata (Fab.).
Calcutta...... saucvncndawes aeaeens G.A. J. Rothney.
Myingyan, Burma ............ E. Y. Watson.
Mr. Rothney says “sexes almost all the year round.”
161. 8S. geminata (Fab). var. armata (Forel MS.).
| LELLUT LO NA i Aan eR (Xmas, 1890, ¢, 2).
Myingyan, Burma...... pencds ths EK. Y. Watson (variety).
This is I think the commonest ant in Bombay; its roads meander
all over the maidan, which is also dotted with the heaps of rejected
chaff thrown out from the nest. Out of Bombay I have found it
nowhere in this Presidency; possibly it is an imported species,
modified by its environment. As Mr. Rothney records of S. geminata
proper that there seem to be sexes in the nest at all seasons; I have
taken them in April, and at Xmas in the University Gardens, and
Mr. Gleadow took them at the Yacht Club early in November. In
habits and general organization of the community it strikingly resem-
bles Holcomyrmex. The variety sent from Burma by Mr. Watson
would seem to be intermediate between this and 8. geminata proper.
Gen. 40. PuHErpoLocEeron (Mayr).
Antenne 11-jointed, the last 2 joints forming the club ; metanotum
bidentate. There are no. intermediate forms between the ¥ and the
2; but the 2 themselves vary very greatly in size.
162. Ph'™ ocellifer (Smith).
AMAT, cececccsecean'en: K. H. Aitken ; H. Palliser (variety),
UIA sewereese der sssess Major ©, T; Bingham (8-90, 9).
Barrackpore ......... G. A. J. Rothney.
25
199 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Mr. Aitken writes :—‘ The entrance (of the nest) which is strewn
‘‘with chaff, is large, but the passage soon splits up, and I failed to
“follow it. I turned up a lot of pupa, however, close to the surface.
«The community is enormous and industrious, collecting large seeds
‘of trees or plants, which it takes a dozen to carry ; these are taken
‘‘in and the husks are thrown out afterwards. If P. ocellifer meets a
‘white ant or any other insect, she collects it in the same way.
«They travel along a distinct road, which often passes under leaves
“and grass but not under or through earth. The smaller 4 often
“laid a jaw to a burden, but the giants appear to do nothing.”
163. Ph laboriosus (Smith).
Poona Districts; Thana Districts......(7-85,$ 9.)
(CISTI) coonsonnonccadnnbciossconacondneqne ac G. A. J. Rothney.
I have only found this species once above the Ghats, at Lanowli ;
in Thana it is common enough. One nest I found there was in the
foundations of the bungalow. A column of P. daboriosus was moving
along at the foot of the plinth, on an open ‘road,’ but further on, where
a garden path had to be crossed, a‘ tunnel ’ had been constructed. This
tunnel was built dry, and not of concrete as with the Termites.
Numbers of the 8 were carrying larve and pups, while the rest
were engaged in the transport of food. I saw alive worm about 14
inch long and some dead beetles and bugs being so conveyed. The
smaller 2 helped in the commissariat transport work, but did not
carry larve; the larger 2 did neither one nor the other; when the
tunnel was injured the % alone did the repairs. The larger 2,
though terribly formidable to look at, were not pugnacious. I saw
one attacked, killed, beheaded, and his body carried off by 3 compa-
ratively small ants of another species. The %, on the contrary, are
plucky and vicious.
Gen. 41. Puerpoie (Westwood), *
Antennz 12-jointed (11-jointed in one species) ; the club, formed
of the last 3 joints, is equal to, or slightly longer than, the rest of the
flagellum ; the ninth joint is twice as long as the eighth. The Q are
all of one size.
* See footnote on Ph. quadrispinosa, page 196.
OUR ANTS. 191
164. Ph. latinoda (Roger).
Poona Districts; Thana Districts.........(13-3-90, &).
Madras ; Mussoori, N.-W.P ; Calcutta...G. A. J. Rothney.
This genus is exceptionally developed in the Dekhan, and I must
confess is my favourite. Though behind Holcomyrmex, Solenopsis,
Messor, and even their near relation Pheidologeton in road-making, to
my mind they bear off the palm in the matter of individual
intelligence. It has been proved (?) by numberless experiments
that, though ants can go and fetch associates, they cannot send them.
These experiments, however, have all been made with European ants
{mostly Formicide) and in captivity. One has only to frighten,
with a piece of grass, the ¥ about the entrance to a nest of Pheidole,
and to note the rapidity with which one or more 4 come bustling
on to the scene, to have his faith in the result of these experiments
somewhat shaken. On one occasion I was trying to attract some
Triglyphothrix with a piece of bacon (in order to find the nest) ; a
single § of P. /atinoda appeared on the scene, and, having tasted the
bait, immediately started off at a run for home, meeting, and passing
the word to several 8, on the way. I traced her to the nest, a good
ten paces off, and then returned at once to my bait. It had been
lying for a good quarter of an hour before the first 3 found it, but
immediately after my return to it, I became aware of several 3
making for it, not in a direct line, but quartering the ground like
pointers, and steadily advancing all the time in the right direction ;
nor were these following the return track of 3 No. 1, but were converg-
ing on the bait, each along a line of her own. Very shortly after they
had reached the food, two or three 3, followed by a lumbering 2,
appeared, coming from the nest, following very closely, though some-
what hesitatingly, the return track of No.1. On seeing them coming
I lifted the bait, and the few 3 which had already reached it, and
then saw the new comers arrive, and actually overrun the spot
where the bait had lain. It seemed to me clear that one or the other
batch of ¥ must have been sent. In this genus the 3, almost with-
out exception, are plucky and attack fearlessly even in the face of
‘manifestations’ (such, for instance, as a human being poking about
the entrance to the nest with a straw). When news of a ‘find’ of
food or of ‘danger’ is conveyed into the nest, several Q almost
192 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
invariably rush out immediately. Ifthe ‘danger’ is from ants or any-
thing in the ‘usual course of nature’ they behave gallantly ; if, how-
ever, the danger is of a ‘superusual’ kind, the Q are curiously
timid, rushing for the security of the nest, or the nearest covers
without the least shame. In most cases within the nest the Q are as
fearless as the 3, and I have frequently secured specimens of 2,
without the trouble of digging, by ‘fishing’ in the nest with a straw.
Tecan only conckude that this difference in the behaviour of the 2
under different circumstances is due to the fact that the small size
(and cubic contents) of the 8 renders them safe from the attacks of
birds, lizards, &c., and that such is not the case with the Q. P. latinoda
is a very common form in the Dekhan. Mr. de Nicéville records it
as tending larvee of Tarucus theophrastus (Fab.).
165. Ph. latinoda (Roger), race angustior (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
166. Ph. latenoda (Roger), race confints (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
The nest was m a tree; P. latinoda is exclusively subterranean.
167. Ph. wroughioni (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts......... (12-6-90, ¢, @)
Thana Districts...............4. Gleadow.
Fairly common; the 2 has an enormous head. In one nest of
P. wroughtoni, when I removed the stone which covered the entrance, I
found anumber of beetles, All sorts of insects, as cockroaches, bugs, &c.,
and even Lepismid@, are fond of sheltering under stones ; consequently,
when the entrance to an ants’ nest is also under a stone, itis very difficult
to know if there isany (and if so what) special relation, between the ants
and these outsiders. In this case, however, there could be no doubt that
the beetles were ‘owned.’ When I disturbed the nest, quite as much
fuss was made over the beetles as over the larvae and pups. The &
seized hold of their antennee and dragged or led them to the gallery
communicating with the nest below ground. There was no attack
on the legs of the beetles, which would certainly have been the case
had they been intruders; indeed I do not believe an ant would ever
take a living enemy into its nest, and in this case the intention to
take the beetles in alive was most marked. Moreover, the beetles
themselves submitted passively to the handling of the ants, yet when
OUR ANTS. 193
I interfered and with forceps seized one of them by the leg, it im-
mediately discharged, with an appreciably audible report, a puff of
yellow dust. The beetles have been identified by Herr Wasmann,
S. J., of Vienna, as belonging to the genus Paussus, of which species
have also been found domesticated in ants’ nests in Europe and
elsewhere.
168. Ph. sykesi (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts......... (10-6-90, 92 )
Thana Districts......... F. Gleadow.
A large species. P. sykest throws up concentric embankments round
the entrance to the nest; the extent of these earthworks varies
according to circumstances, from a mere single tube, less than an inch
high in flat dry country, to half-a-dozen concentric rings, the centre
tube 3 inches and more high, each ring decreasing in height, and
the outside ring 18 inches in diameter. Moreover, when the nest is
on a slope, the up-hill half of a ring is always considerably higher than
the other. P. wroughtoni and P. latinoda also build these earthworks,
but they are always rudimentary compared with those of P. sykesi.
169. Ph. naorgjt (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
I have already described one meeting with this species in my
notice of Monomorum mayrt. I have also taken it nesting ina hole
in a tree stem.
170. Ph. lamellinoda-naorgjt (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
This is a transition form, and further examination must decide
whether it shall be absorbed as a variety into one or other of the
closely related species, or whether it shall stand, perhaps even
receiving a specific name of its own.
171. Ph. lamellinoda (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
This is a very well marked, yellow species, characterized by the
peculiarly developed lamellar process beneath the pedicle. It is a
rare species and rather sluggish.
172. Ph. spathifera (Forel MS.).
Coonoor, Madras ............ R. W. Daly (2).
UPAVAMCONG hinaesacnstyectenes H. S. Ferguson (a variety, Z).
194 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Unfortunately Messrs. Daly and Ferguson sent only the 2. form ;
consequently the 8 is still unknown. The extraordinary spoon-
shaped process on each side of the thorax, like the ‘balancers’ of a
fly, make it impossible to mistake this species.
173.°* Ph. punensis (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
Thana Districts........ Sso799900009 we EF. Gleadow.
OTISS2....00sc0cecrescecrarsenrsnssrsecses Jas. Taylor (a variety ).
Characterized by the very short scape; it is not uncommon in the
moist zone of the Dekhan. }
174. Ph. punensis, race.
Poona Districts.
This is probably the dry zone form of the last; I have taken it
only once in the east of the Poona District. Dr. Forel has not yet
decided whether it deserves a name of its own or not.
175. Ph. rhombinoda (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
Keamararnee: sence nccsceicstic EK. H. Aitken (12-6-90, 2, 2).
Calcutta ........:. eseciets G. A. J. Rothney (2 type).
I got a number of nests containing sexes from flower-pots in my
garden at Poonain June. Mr. Aitken tells me it is very common
in Kanara.
176. Ph. striativentris (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
Thana Districts......... F. Gleadow (variety), (11-6-90, ¢ ).
Calcutta .......... eens G. A. J. Rothney (type).
A fairly common species.
177. Ph. indica (Mayr).
Poona Districts .........+0....(2 Varieties).
I eama iaee nice sceteoes secs r K. H. Aitken.
Crp Proyances) se osactactenenscees J. A. Betham.
Mount Abu, Rajputana ...... F. Gleadow.
Madras ; Calcutta, 1872 ...... G. A. J. Rothney (type).
Dharmsala, Punjab ............ Major Sage (and 2 varieties).
Rai Bareilli, Oudh ............ Dr. Simpson.
OFISSAN He else cater een eets ....das. Taylor.
OUR ANTS. 195
This is a most variable species, shading away into other species in
all directions.
178. Ph. indica (Mayr) ; race rothschana (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
This form is quite common Kast of Poona.
179. Ph. gucunda-indica.
OTIGSH. ss cadecser cose eenscveatatees Jas. Taylor.
180. Ph. jucunda (Forel).
Wi) WRoona’ Districts..:13i/2. 3; svesseeee(A variety).
Dharmsala, Punjab............... Major Sage (variety).
Another variable species.
181. Ph. multidens (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
I took it only once, on the Ghats, at a meat bait.
182. Ph. parva (Mayr).
Dharmsala, Punjab ......... Major Sage (variety).
Waleuitan au ckeacdecddiesiecs es G. A. J. Rothney.
183. Ph. parva (Mayr) ; race dekhanika (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
This would seem to be the local form of P. parva,
184, Ph. ghatika (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
I have taken it only on the Ghits. On one occasion I found a
community of P. ghatika working very hard bringing out corpses from
the nest; there was a considerable heap of them already, and all were
unmutilated and limp; there must, apparently, have been some ter
rible epidemic in the nest. A neighbouring community of Monomo-
rium mayrt were at work removing the corpses to their own nest, and
were allowed to do so unmolested by P. ghatika. Was P. ghatika too
dispirited to resent this desecration of her dead? Or was she only
too glad to get them removed ?
185. Ph. wood-masoni (Forel).
Poona Districts.
CaonOGiraras cedceccs cite cents screed ones R. W. Daly.
This is a dreadfully cretin form, more like a termite than a decent
Pherdole.
196 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOC#ETY, 1892.
186. Ph. javana (Mayr). |
Calcutta L872 isso rccncu ne ...G. A. J. Rothney.
187. Ph. splendida (Forel MS.).
Myingyan, Burma ........... Scaoeh: ..H. Y. Watson.
Mr. Watson only sent one or two specimens of the 2 form.
188. Ph. quadrispinosa (Jerdon).*
Kanara.c.caycectoscsaprsvererecsesccees Hi. do Aten mi)p
ONIssa Fx eceh easton seis scar ssence sas Jas. Taylor (3).
Calcutta daaiaisteecacusecas ase comes G. A. J. Rothney ( 8 ).
This is an aberrant species, having 11-jointed antenne, and, as far
asis known, no 4 form. Jerdon described, under the name of
ecodoma, some 7 or 8 species of Phetdole, but owing to imperfect
descriptions and loss of types this one alone can be identified.
189. Ph. watsont (Forel MS.).
Calcutta ...... donodnoo snare qopaaouonerst G. A. J. Rothney.
Gen. 42. Tricgonocaster (Forel).
This genus is very like Pheidole, with 11-jointed antenne; the
peculiar shape of the abdomen, from which it takes its name, is
characteristic; no 2 form is known.
190. ZT. recurvispinosus (Forel).
Poona Districts. ;
A detailed description of this genus and species has been reprinted
in this Journal. .
Gen. 43. CremasTocasTER (Lund).
Antenne, 11-jointed; the insertion of the pedicle is on top of the
abdomen, instead of at its base as in all other ants.
191. Or. difformis (Smith),
Pegu Hills and Ataran Valley, Burma...Major C. T. Bingham.
Major Bingham says, ‘‘it makes a large globular nest on trees;
a rare species.” .
192. Cr. ransonneti (Mayr).
Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon..................Major Yerbury.
Colombowrsrcsecanceres sogososga0e30 ...G. A. J. Rothney.
* Since the above was in print I have been able to send the ¢ and Q to Dr. Forel
from Kanara. An inspection of these forms shows that P. quarispinosa must be removed
to a new genus, Lophomyrmezw, lately established for an allied species, from Borneo,
by Emery.
OUR ANTS. 197
Major Yerbury describes nests of this species: “Nest in bush,
“ pear-shaped, roughly 5” long, 3” diameter, made of a substance resem-
“bling bleached, decomposed cowdung. Another nest, material blacker
“and more like papier mache, possibly due to age; inverted bettle-
“shape, apical portion almost cylindrical. Nests very common.”
193. Cr. subnuda (Mayr).
Meamatas 2. ice) cubes cas dish Asie eae E. H. Aitken.
Hekeala, Coylow.c ij0cfs.de.cisee ee Major Yerbury (variety).
Calentta, js. cae ceans see: sade fareh cites G. A. J. Rothney (type).
Major Yerbury states that it nests underground.
194. Or. subnuda-rabulétdes.
QHIBGA Soaks tes bP usaen d Meds aviada tases Jas. Taylor.
195. Cr. subnuda (Mayr) ; race rabula (Forel MS.). :
(Poona Waist Cts: | 203 iie.ct head dakuen cele. (6-6-90, 3,92).
WTR ccc hae cdai. darentasde <tc deben doe ode Jas. Taylor.
BOURNE Hiss Gacte sean fete ctuah mia insaemwiesites R. W. Daly (variety).
Aeration ch OEP, Aas ew odbeekoehedvuess G. A. J. Rothney.
This is the commonest form in the Dekhan; towards the Ghats
it is arboreal ; but in the dry zone inland it nests underground.
196. Cr. dohrni (Mayr).
Ataran Valley, Burma ............6. Major C. T. Bingham.
Trincomalee and Colombo, Ceylon...Major Yerbury (2 vars.).
Major Yerbury found it nesting underground.
197. Cr. dohrni-rogenhoferi.
Ge GRON ee als, Ss tea teal aan des «dancte seme 1s Major Yerbury.
198. Or. rogenhoferi (Mayr).
POOH WistTicidic. «cc v2s2steeerenees (12-3-90,¢ ).
PO MAM AY aways des ieatid ewan <besteee seis EK. H. Aitken, T. D. Bell.
MTAWANEOLC aah cavice ras eens snesswiins H. 8. Ferguson.
Miata: Districts: 5. teres Nance tone F. Gleadow.
MO leita a eras all; ween, Toh dane be ts G. A. J. Rothney.
This is the common forest species of Western India. It builds
large nests of ‘brown paper,’ with projecting pent-houses, more or
less overlapping one another. The nests may usually thus be dis-
tinguished from those of Cr. ebeninus, which, at most, have only
rudimentary verandahs. I believe this system of ‘ frills’ is intended
to give protection from the sun as much as from the rain; on one
occasion I broke off a piece of nest, the size of a man’s fist, which fell and
26
198 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
lay in the sun ; in half an hour every ant init was dead. In the more
Eastern Dekhan C. rogenhoferi ceases to build nests and lives in holes
in trees like C. rabula; but I have never found it nesting in the ground.
Mr. Aitken has sent me the following interesting note on a wood-
pecker which habitually rears its young in the nest of this species :-—
“‘T had on several occasions seen I. gu/aris excavating the nests of
“ Cremastogaster, but it was not until the 27th of last March that
<T found a nest actually occupied by the birds. It was a very large
“and solid nest, fixed on and embracing the stem of a teak sapling.
‘JT tried to climb the tree, but was routed by the ants, whick not
“ only swarmed down the trunk to attack me, but dropped on me
_ «like rain from the branches above. Afterwards I got a ladder and
«‘ reached the nest without alarmimg the ants overmuch. The wood-
‘‘peckers had made two holes on opposite sides of the nest, one
“above and one below. The upper one led intoa round and suffi-
« ciently roomy chamber, in which I found three eggs. There was
“no lining, but the sides of the chamber were very smooth. The
«lower hole contained nothing. I do not think that it was made for
“any special purpose. My idea is that these woodpeckers excavate
‘‘many nests before they are able to find one that affords room for
“them to turn im, and that they have to try the same nest at
“ different points. The branch on which the nest is built does not
“ generally run through the middle of it, but lies hike the bone in
“a leg of mutton, and the birds, like a young carver, sometimes
“begin at the wrong side. I have seen a pair of woodpeckers
“excavating the same nest at opposite sides. I cannot explain or
‘imagine how the birds ‘ square” the ants. In the nest I have
“ mentioned they appeared to have abandoned the upper part, where
‘the birds were in possession, but the lower part was swarming
“with them. In the May following I found another nest with
“young ones in it. It was also swarming with ants, J erdon men-
“tions a resinous substance found upon the feathers of these wood-
“neckers. It is just possible that this is some anti-ant preparation.”
199. Cr. rothneyi (Mayr).
Poona Districts.
Gallcinttarscsucteene caer eee G. A. J. Rothney (type).
This is a very common and exclusively terrestrial species.
OUR ANTS. 199
200. Cr. contemta (Mayr).
Poona Districts...(and a variety) (4-4-91, $ , and 29-3-90, 2 )
Coander;. Madras... 0.<0<ecwunas ager R. W. Daly (2 varieties).
Sunderbuns ......... featactcneceeteen Robert Ellis (variety).
SGU YJ ieda aces sc caine sx ccetslanged G. A. J. Rothney (type).
GUTS Bi cre tociuacioois tenascin dacs oncated on: Jas. Taylor.
Ceylon ........ Gceqesemesnensaemaee aids Major Yerbury.
This is the commonest terrestrial species of the Dekhan; it may
be found wandering everywhere, though it has a strong tendency
to follow its own made road within a considerable distance from the
nest. Ido not think these roads are kept long in use, for they
are but indistinctly marked.
201. Cr. coriaria (Mayr).
SURI ee cated ec in deiesiet<n knows eee ea sae’ Major ©. T. Bingham.
202. Cr. flava (Forel).
BEANIE end < 08 i28 Senden gars @1acaseenecvaes E. H. Aitken.
203. Cr. perelegans (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts.
A very large and handsome species; it is fairly common east of
Poona, but is essentially a jungle ant. Ituses a road which, however,
is not well marked, nor necessarily on the ground surface, In one
Maratha Fort I traced a column of theseants, sometimes on the walls,
sometimes on the ground, for fully 100 yards; all the ants followed
practically the same road, but the column was not continuous.
I have recorded already the looting of Holcomyrmex by this species.
204. Cr. wroughtont (Forel MS.).
Poona, Districts. sevasss asics esosuess (11-83-90, 2).
I have found it only once, on the Ghats; the nest was in a hollow
mango tree.
205. Cr. ebeninus (Forel MS.).
Poona Districts....... aged casera werees (24-4-91, 6,2).
ORISSA ras eden et tecus eas: ches <ovaaeaenenes Jas. Taylor (variety).
In the Dekhan C. ebeninus occurs only on the Gh&ts, but, unless I
am mistaken, I remember it asa fairly common species in the Thana
jungles. Its nestis like that of C. rogenhofer: without the ‘ flounces,’
or having them in a very rudimentary form. Mr. Taylor records,
200 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, 1892.
of the specimens he sent, that he “found them milking a lot of
Aphides on some broad beans in the garden.”
206. Cr. aberrans (Forel MS..).
MilfanaDistricts ausceseneetene ee: F. Gleadow (24-4-91,2, 2).
Calcutta’ ence ieee eeerte ace teeae: G. A. J. Rothney.
Kamera’ sw. menteeectncreconect: H. G. Palliser (Xmas, 1890, @ }
This species is aberrant in the forms of the sexes.
207. Or. dalyi (Forel MS.).
COONOOT ceacenteedace caseeven een: R. W. Daly.
208. Cr. aitkeni (Forel MS.).
Kamara ici ceesueaness soniece eevee EK. H. Aitken.
(Nore.—I think I should repeat here that the names I have used
have been given provisionally, after a comparatively superficial
examination; very many of them will, undoubtedly, be confirmed, but
In some cases, no doubt, study of a wider series of specimens will
necessitate a revision of this nomenclature, This is specially the case
in this genus; many of the species are most variable, and the specific
differences of the majority are only appreciable under the micro-
scope). :
209. Cr. minchini (Forel MS.).
Calleubiat py canmeeeeassie on estetenc scene G. A. J. Rothney.
Gen. 44. Sra (Roger).
Antenne 12-jointed, not clubbed. Though the chief generic
characteristics are not easily appreciated, the very long body and
short legs render it unmistakable.
210. 8S. rufonigra (Jerdon).
Poona Districts.
UreivainCOn yale cence uae: ae me dete sees H. 8. Ferguson.
Mount ?Abu, fajputanal Sa-ceneeeecer: F. Gleadow( @ ).
Walleutitia he cuesss a nepecene Se eee G. A. J. Rothney.
Orissa........ Bdaislda ddd Mend sae unaaaaacas Jas. Taylor.
(Gres hoya. ammiagaandesccrossgeddeddaadsadsane Major Yerbury.
This is a species of the moist zone. I found it only once in the
East Dekhan, in a large oasis of irrigated land; the community was
a very large one, and in connection with it I found a considerable
number of the Ampulex (Rhinopsis) mentioned in his paper by
OUR ANTS. 201
Mr. Rothney. It was a capital imitation of S. rufonigra, but I could
detect no connexion between it and the ants. On the other hand, I
saw several times a Lhinopsis seize a small cockroach (of a species of
which there were several specimens about) by the antenna, lead
and drag it about, and finally disappear with it into some crevice of
the bark. In each case the cockroach reappeared uninjured, and in
one case was promptly taken charge of by another Rhinopsis. The
cockroach did not struggle or attempt to escape at any time, and
S. rufonigra took not the slightest notice of it or of Rhinopsis. The
whole affair was most mysterious. The mimicking spider, mentioned
by Mr. Rothney, is common wherever S, rufonigra has communities ; a
very fine one was sent me by Mr. Aitken from Kanara. I have never
found the sexes in the nest, but have found a solitary Q once or twice.
211. S. nigra (Jerdon).
Pond, Districtsys. vcr veciscnscswesieotudes sex (15-12-91, 4,9).
HEAnaEa, <eococcects «i Siaeane ieaiedum tees yedeacae EK. H. Aitken.
Moadruas:Caleubta ssc. .cccaesseu ssn civesionscds G. A. J. Rothney.
In the Dekhan this form seems to be limited to the dry Eastern
Districts, where, however, it frequents moist positions, such as the
dense babul groves on the banks of the large rivers. I have never
examined a nest of S. nigra without finding 2 winged or apterous, which
is a strong contrast with S.rufonigra. Dr. Forel had called my attention
to a closely allied genus Pseudomyrma, which is found nesting in the
large hollow thorns of a Nicaraguan Acacia. I searched many hun-
dred similar thorns of the Pulati (Acacia latronum), where this bush
was the sole, or almost the sole, tree crop, and, though I found spiders,
lepidopterous larvee, &c., inhabiting the thorns, I found no ants. Lately,
however, I found on some Pulati bushes, growing near a babul grove
on the trees of which S. nigra was common, a number of thorns
full of S. nigra, nearly the half of each community being as
usual Qandé. Whatever may be the case with Pseudomyrma, I have
no doubt that S. nigra does not herself make these nests, but merely
occupies a convenient site for her nest; nevertheless it is a curious
fact that two such closely related genera should, at opposite ends of the
world, have selected such similar positions for nesting, all the more so
that the position is one that would not strike a human being as any-
thing but most cramped and inconvenient. There is a spider (Sa/ticus)
202 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892.
which mimics S. nigra, though it is not so common as the corresponding
under-study of S. rufonigra.
212. §. compressa (Roger).
Poona Districts.
Wolombo +! Calteutitannrcectcncecenectes or G. A. J. Rothney.
Orissa Wik, Rate cence eset umeneie came tines Jas. Taylor.
This is far the smallest of the three species ; indeed it is barely half the
size of anormal S. negra. Itis rare in the Dekhan, and only found on
the Ghats. The only nest I have found was in a hole in a living tree.
The community contained about 40 ¥ , and a fourth as many apterous 9 .
INDEX TO PLATES.
PLATE C.
1. Alaopone oberthiiri (Mayr) ee OS Y
Oh do. do. xX 9
3. do. do. X 9 (head).
4, Meranoplus bicolor (Guérin) 8 Foxe
3B. do. dos nok
6. do. do. xX 18 (head),
he do. do. X 18 (antenna).
8. Cataulacus latus (Forel MS.) Sixes
o: do. do. X 9 (profile).
10. do. do. X 18 (antenna).
11. Aphenogaster beccarii (Kmery) e369)
12, do. do. X9
13. do. do. X 9 (antenna).
PLATE D.
1. Pheidole latinoda (Roger) ep eG)
2 do. do. X9
3 do. de. X 18 (antenna).
4. do. Zi >)
5. do. do. X 18 (antenna).
6. Cremastogaster rabula (Forel MS.) 8 X 9
7 do. do: <9) (prone):
8 do. do. X 18 (antenna).
9. Sima nigra (Jerdon) i Se)
10. do. do. X 18 (antenna). -
GOUPIE,
THE POISONC
Keep. eriad Foo
t
OF BOMBAY.
TIE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 203
11. DMyrmicaria subcarinata (Emery) 3 X 9
12. do. ~ do. X9
13. do. do. X 9 (head).
(Norz.—In Plate D, Figs. 1, 6 and 7, owing to my bad drawing,
it looks as if there were 5 segments in the abdomen proper, instead
of 4.)
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
BY
Surcron-Masor K, R. Kirtirxar, I. M.S.
PART Ef.
(With Plate C.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on July 4th, 1892.)
KAMPFERIA ROTUNDA—(Linn., Willd.).
(Natural Order—ScrraM1neE&. )
MaratHi—BHUI-CHAMPA. (4347: )
Roxburgh has described this species accurately. I have generally
followed him and interspersed his description with a few details,
whenever found necessary, from Rheede’s description of the plant
in his Hortus Malabaricus (Vol. XI, t. 9, page 17).
A very elegant plant throughout, cultivated in gardens on account
of the beauty and fragrance of its flowers. Flowers appear in March
and April just before the leaves are thrown out.
Roort.—Biennial—(I think it is annual); bulbous or tuberous ;
outside brownish-yellow, covered with a coriaceous membrane ;
inside yellowish-white ; dense; juicy; with numerous white rootlets
two or three inches long; bearing fascicles of numerous oblong bulbs
of the thickness of the thumb, varying from an inch to two inches in
length ; the bulbs are glabrous, inside mucilaginous.
Srem.—A bsent.
LEAVES, radical; petioled; oblong, lanceolate; smooth; never ex-
ceeding a cubit in length under ordinary cultivation ; usually a foot
long in good soil; from four to six inches broad. Very prettily
coloured underneath—rich purple; green on the ventral surface,
Petioles sheathing, uniting into what appears a short stem, as in
Curcuma,
204 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
Scapus, just sufficient to elevate the flowers above ground, embraced
by a few common sheaths of rich greenish-purple colour, shaded
with pink.
FLowers.—Scapose; from four to six to the scape; very large, of
various colours which are all harmoniously blended in one and the
same flower from ccerulean-white, pink, yellow to deep purple.
Bracts, two to each flower, surrounding the base of the germ;
the inner one has its apex bifid; the exterior or longest is here only
about half the length of the calyx.
Catyx.—Rising from the summit of the root; white, one-leaved,
membranaceous; as long as the tube of the corolla; somewhat gibbous;
apex generally two-toothed, and of a dotted purplish colour.
CorottaA.—Tubhe long, slender, cylindric, nearly erect; obliquely
funnel-shaped towards the mouth. Petals, 6, in two rows of three
each. Hzterior row of petals drooping, linear, white tinged with purple,
with margins involute. nner row of petals has two of them longer
than the third when the flower fully opens; erect, lanceolar, acute;
colour principally ccerulean-white with pink or crimson central and
marginal streaks. The third petal inferior, deeply divided into two
broad obcordate, deflected, pointed lobes of a deep purple colour
particularly towards the centre and base. This deep division of the
lower petal gives the flower the appearance of a four-petalled organ.
FiraMent.—Purple arising from the base of the calyx (Rheede) ;
short, erect, broad, inserted on the base of the uppermost two
interior divisions of the corolla (Rox.). The corolla is deciduous;
calyx thickens, bearing with it seminal capsules.
AntuHer.—Linear and enlarged with an ovate two-forked yellow-
coloured, somewhat recurved crest. Rheede calls it a “ cornute
yellow tongue.”
GERM.—Ovate.
Sryvte.—Filiform.
Sriegm4.—Funnel-shaped.
Remarxks.—The plant figured in Curtis’ Botanical Magazine,
Vol. XXIIT., Plate No. 920, p. 920, is by no means one that would
give an accurate idea of the vivid colours of the plant, or the
profusion of the fasciculated tubers as seen in the Indian specimens.
This can be easily accounted for from the fact that that picture was
taken from a plant grown in the Brompton Botanic Garden, and
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 205
necessarily reared under the warmth of a stove and possibly in the
absence of bright sunshine. It will be useful to note that Rheede
has observed—that Jacob Breynius, a learned authority—in his
Prodromus Secund. calls this plant Zedoaria radice rotunda (ie.,
with a round root). Rheede further notes that the whole plant is
used externally as an unguent (Poultice? k.R.K.) to wounds, which
it isknown in Malabar to cure wonderfully. When applied exter-
nally it has been supposed to cause “resolution” where there is
“coagulation of blood in the body’”—meaning, I presume, conges-
tion. It is said ‘‘to consume also all purulent material.’ The
juice of roots taken internally is supposed to act as a resolvent of
phlegm, of dropsical affections of hands and feet, and of effusions
in joints. Such is also the use of this plant on this side of India.
Dr. Dymock speaks of it as a popular remedy in mumps (Galgand).
Tur Porsonous NaturE OF THE PLANT.
I have noticed instances of profuse salivation and vomiting
produced by the internal administration of the juice of the tubers.
They are sometimes used by villagers in their fresh condition in
throat affections, known under the generic name of Ghdt-sarpa, to
relieve the sense of dryness in inflammations of the pharynx and
tonsils. The fresh tubers are pounded or rubbed on a stone with
water,—a couple of them,—mixed with water, a small cupful and
drunk sediment, and all. This mixture carries with it the active
principle or alkaloid of the plant and causes in some cases unpleasant
symptoms, such as profuse salivation and subsequent vomiting or
retching. The active principle is presumably not unlike what is
found in the various species known as the ‘‘ Galangals” and “ Zedo-
arias,’ which have a more or less “ strong, bitter, pungent, camphor-
aceous taste.” The plant I am describing is, as Breynius has
determined, a veritable Zedoaria, and a representative of the order
Zingiberacee which is noted more or less for its sialogogue properties.
How is this salivation caused, when the juice of Bhui-Champé is
administered by the mouth? The juice may act in one of the two
following ways, or both ways simultaneously:—(1) It may act
through the stomach on the pneumogastric nerve, and produce emesis
(nausea and vomiting) ; or (2) it may act locally on the mouth, 7.e., on
27
206 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
the lingual terminations of the glosso-pharyngeal nerve, or on the
lingual branch of the fifth nerve and produce salivation. Sialogogues
are either (1) topical or direct, or (2) specific, remote or indirect, to
follow Dr. Lauder Brunton’s classification of them. Ginger, the
most typical species of the order to which Bhui-Champa belongs,
is classed by him as a topical sialogogue. It is a very pungent
substance. Bhui-Champais by no means so pungent, yet it has an
unmistakably “bitter, pungent, camphoraceous taste.” And here
I am using the words of our careful and experienced clinical
observer, Dr. Dymock.* Now the lesser amount of pungency is a
mere question of degree; mere pungency, however, may not have
much or anything to do with salivation; for im addition to the pun-
gent element which ginger contains there are other crystallizable and
non-crystallizable principles in it. Fora fuller knowledge of these,
the reader may be referred to the valuable researches of Dr. Thresh
in the Year-Books of Pharmacy for 1879 and 1882 respectively.
It may be presumed that Bhui-Champa possesses some of these
principles. It is for the future pharmacologist and chemical analyst
to determine what they may be. Iam now noting only what has
been my clinical experience, and not what I can analytically or
experimentally account for:
Now to come to another point. Clinically speaking, intense
salivation has been known to be a forerunner of vomiting, or is an
accompanying or accessory phenomenon. Dr. Lauder Brunton notes
that “‘the nerves which convey stimuli from the stomach and excite
salivation which accompanies nausea are contained in the vagus.”
Thave also the testimony of such a careful observer as Brigade-
Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Wellington Gray, Principal of Grant
Medical College, who, when he was Acting Chemical Analyser to
Government and Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, thus observed
in his official report for 1874,75 :—
«¢ The occurrence of salivation mentioned by Colonel (now General
Sir Robert) Phayre as having come on when he began to feel the
* Since these lines were written, Dr. Dymock has departed this life, to the great
sorrow of the scientific world. Indian Botany has lost an earnest, indefatigable, quiet
and unostentatious worker at a time when his mature knowledge was being used by
him for the advancement of botanical and therapeutical sciences with the stamp of
unquestionable authority.—Kk. Rh. K,
NOTES ON BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN. 207
effects of the arsenic he had swallowed, admitted of the very obvious
explanation that it was nothing more than the increased flow of saliva
which ts the. usual accompaniment of nausea,* no matter how it might
have been produced.” (Trans. Med.and Phys.Soc., Bombay, no. xii,
1876, pp. 215, 216). The topical sialogogues, such as I consider
Bhui-Champa to be, produce salivation by stimulating the salivary
glands reflexly through the nerve-terminations in the tongue and
mucous membrane of the mouth. “The effect produced by topical
or reflex sialogogues,” Dr. Lauder Brunton observes, “is not the
same for each.” ‘‘Ether and dilute acids produce a thin watery
saliva,’? says he, “ but alkalis cause the secretion of athicker and more
viscid saliva: the former appearing to affect chiefly the chorda
tympani, and the latter, the sympathetic.” In the salivation which was
produced by Bhui-Champa the flow was “thin and watery.” Can it
therefore be said that the action of the drug is on the chorda tympani ?
Then there is also the effect of the drug on the stomachnerves. Itis
a subject worthy of investigation for any practical pharmacological
experimenter.
Description oF Prats C.
Leaves on either side ; between them is the old root, right in the
centre with a graduated conical top’ surrounded by numerous
fascicles of bulbs with fine white rootlets; on either side is an open
flower.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD,
WITH SOME NOTES ON THEIR HABITS,
| FOOD-PLANTS, &c.
By Masor J. W. Yergury, R.A., F.Z.8., F.E.S.
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 4th July, 1892.)
Havine picked up the Journal of the Society from time to time
and seen accounts of the butterflies, &c., of various parts of the
Indian Empire, but ne’er a word on those of Aden, has induced me
to look up my notes on the butterflies of that favoured spot, and to
put these notes into something like shape in response to the Hditor’s
appeal for ‘“‘ Copy.” Aden, moreover, being an appanage of the
* The italics are mine.—K. R. K.
208 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Bombay Presidency, is a place to which the military members, at
any rate of the Society, are at some time or other likely to gravitate,
and it is in the hope that these notes may be of interest to some
members (whether past, present, or future inhabitants of the place),
and that they may induce some of them to enter into further inves-
tigation of its entomology, that they are written.
To the Anglo-Indian, Aden is too well known to require any
description of its leading characteristics, but few passengers (for
the matter of that, no great number of the residents) have any idea
of the affect on “the barren rocks of Aden” of afew heavy showers;
how almost immediately, as if by magic, vegetation springs up in
every ravine and water-course, accompanied by a tolerably abundant
- insect fauna.
Rain may always be expected in January, February, and March,
and these months are par excellence the bug-hunter’s season.
Heavy rain often falls in May, and this sometimes produces some good
butterflies towards the end of June; and early in July, 1883, was such
a year, and I obtained early in July Teracolus miles and Thanaos
djelele#,—butterflies never again met with,—besides [smene anchises
and other good insects. July is generally a good month too for moths.
Before enumerating the species obtained, it may be worth while
to mention the places found most productive. They were—in Aden
itsel{—Gold Mohur Valley and the valleys beyond as far as Round
Island, the Maala Plain, and the water-courses on the plateau
above the tanks :—outside the barrier—the so-called forest at Shaik
Othman, a cocoanut plantation at Huswah, generally round Al
Hautah (Lahej), and in the beds of the streams and at the edges of
cultivation at Haithalhim.
My identifications have been taken in great measure from
Mr. Butler’s account of my Aden collections, P.Z.S., 1884, p. 478.
I have added several species omitted by him in the paper quoted.
The species obtained were as follows :—
RHOPALOCHRA.
Family —NyMpHaLip#.
Subfamily —Danaine.
1. Limnas chrystppus, Linneeus, Syst. Nat., p. 417 (1758).
NOTES ON BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN. 209
Limnas alcippus, Cramer, Pap. Exot., vol. 1, pl. exxvii, figs, H, F
(1779).
Limnas dorippus, Klug, Syst. Phys., pl. 48, figs. 1-4 (1845).
Linnas klugti, Butler, P. Z. S., 1885, p. 758.
I have lumped these four forms together, as however good species
they may be elsewhere, at Aden they are only varieties. I have
taken them “in coitw” in every possible combination, and have reared
a considerable number of caterpillars, with the result of having
obtained L. chrysippus, intergrades to L. aleippus, L. dorippus, and
L. klugit. I could not detect the slightest difference between the,
larvee that produced these different results. The pupa are dichroic,
green and light purple, and are very beautiful, looking as if they had
been carved out of the wax tapers used to decorate Christmas trees.
T lost a great number of larvae from the attacks of a large dipterous
parasite, one of the Tachinine. All the larvee reared were found
on Calotropis gigantea.
I imagined that the forms which have white on the hindwing, 2.e.,
L. alcippus and L. dorippus, had become more common in 1883-84
than they had been when I was first quartered in Aden in 1869-70.
The fact that the original LZ. dorippus of Klug had white on the hind-
wing appears to have been overlooked, until the receipt of my Aden
collections at the British Museum caused the matter to be looked into.
L. klugii isas worthy of specific rank as L. alcippus or L. doruppus, as
it bears the same relations to L. dorippus that L. chrysippus does to
L. aleippus, but that the four forms are (anywhere) anything more
than varieties I do not for an instant believe. I took a single
specimen of L. blugit near Foul Point (the opposite side of the outer
harbour at Trincomali) on the 15th April, 1891, its first record, I
believe, in Ceylon.
Subfamily—Satyrine.
9. Melanitis ismene, Cramer, Pap. Exot, vol. i, pl. xxvi, figs. A,
B (1775). Common at Lahej, rare in Aden.
8. Ypthima asterope, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. xxix, figs. 11-14
(1832). Common at Lahej, fairly common in Aden. The Aden
specimens are small, very dark, and with small ocelli. The Lahej
form, on the other hand, is large, pale, and with large ocelh.
210 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Subfamily—Nymphaline.
4, Hypolimnas misippus, Linneus, Mus. Ulr., p. 264 (1764).
Common throughout the neighbourhood. The females mimic
all the four forms of Limnas; the mimics of JL. alcippus and
LL. dorippus being, however, comparatively rare.
5. Junonia here, Lang, Entomologist, p. 206, Sept., 1884.
Common at Lahej,rarein Aden. Thisis the Aden form of J. orithyia.
6. Junonia clelia, Cramer, Pap. Exot., vol. i, pl. xxi, figs. H, F
(1775). A single specimen at Huswah, 24th June, 1883.
7. Junonia cebrene, Trimen, Trans. Hunt. Soc. Lond., 1870, p. 353.
Common everywhere. The African form of J. enone.
8, Pyrameis cardui, Linneeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, p. 475, n. 107
(1758). The ubiquitous “ Painted Lady” is common throughout the
neighbourhood.
9. Hypanis ilithyta, Drury, Il. xot. Ent., vol. 1, pl. xvu, figs. 1,
2 (1773). A single;specimen at Huswah, 24th June, 1883. I was
shooting hares on this occasion, and sent one of the lascars I had
with me as beaters to fetch a hare I had shot; the man came back
carrying the hare in one hand, and holding this butterfly fluttering
between the finger and thumb of the other. It was the only specimen
I ever met with.
10. Hypanis castanea, Butler, P. Z. 8., 1885, p. 759. Common —
at Haithalhim, March, 1883. I never met with this butterfly any-
where in the district between Haithalhim and Aden, yet I believe
that the only two specimens of Hypanis seen in Aden (neither of
them caught) belonged to this species. Itis quite distinct from
the last.
Family—Lycmnipa.
11. Polyommatus beticus, Linneus, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2,
p. 789, n. 226 (1767). Common everywhere.
12. Catochrysops cnejus, Fabricius, Ent. Syst., Suppl., p. 450,
n. 100, 101 (1798). Common at Lahej.
18. Catochrysops asopus, Hoppfer, Ber. Verh. Ak. Berl., 1855,
p. 642, n. 22. Common near Lahej, rare in Aden. According to
the diagnosis of this genus, Buté. Ind., pp. 175, 176, a slender tail
is one of its characteristics; this species, however, has no tail, its
removal from the genus is therefore possible. Of course the case
NOTES ON BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN, 211
may be parallel to that of some species of Megisba and Nacaduba,
genera having both tailed and tailless forms.
. 14, Azanus amarah, Lefebvre, Voy. Abyss., vol. vi, p. 384, pl. xi,
figs. 5, 6 (1847), Common everywhere.
15. Azanus zena, Moore, P, Z. S., 1865, p. 505, pl. xxxi,
fig. 9. Common everywhere.
16. Azanus sigillata, Butler, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th
series, vol. xvii, p. 483 (1876). Generally distributed throughout
the neighbourhood, but nowhere common. Mr. de Nicéville, Butt.
Ind., vol. iii, p. 125, unites this species with A. gamra (a species I,
have never met with) ; he puts A. crameri, a Ceylon species, also as a
synonym of that butterfly. There is certainly a igo resemblance
between A. sigiliata and A. cramert.
A. zena and sigillata differ widely in their habits, the former
being a sturdy little fellow who sits at the end of a babul twig and
flies about in a sharp decided manner, generally returning to his
original perch. A sigillata, on the other hand, is one of the weak-
kneed vacillating folk, and goes flopping along over low herbage
in a purposeless manner ; in this, too, it is resembled by A. crameri.
17. Turucus pulcher, Murray, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1874, p. 524,
pl. x, figs. 7, 8. Common throughout the neighbourhood.
Mr. de Nicéville, Butt. Ind., vol. iii, p. 194, unites this species with
T’. plinwus, judging from the specimen of the latter from Continental
India only. I was loth to accept this synonomy, but the specimens
I have taken in this neighbourhood (Trincomali) have almost
converted me.
18. Turucus theophrastus, Fabricius, Ent. Syst., vol. iii, pt. 1,
p- 281, n. 82 (1793). Common everywhere.
19. Chilades trochilus, Freyer, Neuere Beitr., vol. v, pl. 440, fig. 1
(1844). Generally distributed. Mr. de Nicéville, Butt. Ind., vol. iu,
p- 91, unites this species with C. putli. Ido not think thatmany
Field Entomologists who have met with both species in life will agree
with him in this. My own reasons for dissenting are as follows:—
I have met with the two species :—
POST He dagcat cen aatecd dsvadaseies C. trochilus.
Campbellpore..........e0sec.e C. trochilus and C. putlt.
MPINCOMAly, \ {5.5 vedas. eres C. putl.
212 JCURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
At Aden and Campbellpore a similar state of conditions exists—
the volcanic rocks of Aden proper having their counterpart in the
arid hills of Attock and Khairabad, while the Lahe] oasis is represent-
ed by the sandy cultivated plain round the cantonment of Camp-
bellpore. At Aden C. trochilus alone is found, while at Campbell-
pore that species confines itself entirely to the rocky nullah
beds of the Attock and Khairabad hills; whereas C. putl is found
close round the barracks at Campbellpore, frequenting a plant,
Feleotropium sp.?—and so far as my experience went, neither
species ever trespassed on the other’s territory. At Trincomali,
C. putli regularly swarm at times in the grass, while C. trochilus is
unknown. .
20. Zizera knysna, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc., ser. 3, vol. 1, p. 282
(1862). Common and generally distributed. Mr. de Nicéville, Buti.
Ind., vol. iii, p. 116, unites this species with Z. lysimon (a butterfly
Tam unacquainted with). Z. knysna is a species with long narrow
wings, and, so far as my memory serves, more like Il. c. pl. xxvi,
fig. 174 (Z. gaika) than fig. 173 (Z. lysimon) ; in fact, is so little
like the latter figure that I doubt the possibility of this synonomy
being correct.
21. Zizera gaika, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc., ser. 3, vol. i, p. 403
(1862). Rare in Aden, common inland. I found a single colony in
Aden in a water-course on the plateau above the tanks; it had estab-
lished itself in some rank vegetation at the foot of a small precipice
(where after heavy rain there was doubtless a waterfall), and was
fairly populous, though occupying a space only a few square feet in
area. Specimens from this colony were very distinct from any
specimens of the latter species, but inland, where the two forms are
found flying together, I fear they will be found to merge into
one another. Col. Swinhoe and Mr. de Nicéville both cite
Z. karsandra as an Aden species. I think there must be some
mistake here, as I never met with it, and the former gentleman at
any rate derived the greater number of his Aden specimens from me.
22. Deudorix lia, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. xl, figs. 3-6 (1834).
Common in Aden, January and February, 1884, not seen any other
time. I took a single 9 Deudoriz near Lahej, 4th January, 1885, which
I doubtfully identified as this species ; if the identification be correct
NOTES ON BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN, oh). sole
itis the only occasion on which I met with this butterfly out of
Aden proper. I made my first acquaintance with this species on
Christmas Day, 1883, near Round Island, and the following incident,
though it has nothing to do with butterflies, may be interesting, viz.,
the seeing of the Aden monkeys on that day—the only time
between November, 1882, and March, 1885, I saw them, although I
frequently heard them. Qn this occasion there were three, a male
(a splendid fellow), a female, and a half-grown butcha, and they
’ were climbing up the rocks near the steep headland on the Gold
Mohur Valley side of the bay. During 1869 and 1870 I frequently
saw the monkeys, and at that time the flock numbered probably
from 12 to 20 members. I have thought this worth recording, as
there are many people who are sceptical as to the existence of
monkeys on the rock.
Family—PapiLionip@.
Subfamily—Pierine.
23. Terias chalcomieta, Butler, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5,
vol. iii, p. 190, n. 10 (1879). Common at Lahej and Haithalhim.
24. Catopstlia florella, Fabricius, Syst. Ent., p. 479,n. 159(1775).
Catopsilia alewrona, Butler, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4,
vol. xviii, p. 489 (1876).
Catopsilia hyblea, Boisduval, Sp. Gén., Lép., p. 612, n. 11
(1836).
Catopsilia pyrene, Swainson, Zool. Tll., Ist ser., pl. 51 (1820-21).
I have lumped these four forms, as at Aden they seem so linked
together as to be inseparable. All four forms are very common
(particularly at the forest!) at Shaik Othman, e.g. “9-3-84,
C. pyrene swarming on the Cassia bushes.”
The next genus—TZeracolus—being essentially a desert form is
naturally well represented in the neighbourhood. Col. Swinhoe,
P. Z. S., 1884, page 434, writes of this genus in a manner which
appears to me to be misleading, as he seems to imply that Teracoli
are in the habit of sitting and basking on burning sand and rock
(as one sees P. cardui and some of the Junonice and Vanesside do).
The family does doubtlessly inhabit some of the hottest and most
desert-like spots on the face of the globe, but so far as my experience
goes Teracoli never alight on the ground, but on a stem of grass or
28
914 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
other piece of the scant vegetation that always exists in their
haunts. The three groups TZeracolus, Idmais, and Callosune were
united some years ago by Mr. Butler under the head of Teracolus
as not being structurally distinct, and I have followed him,—
though Callosune (with coloured tips to the forewing) and Idmais
(without such tips) appear worthy to be kept separate on account
of their peculiar facies, whereas one group of [dmais (the T. faustus
group) seems almost entitled to generic distinction, not only on
account of the embossed spot on the internal area near the base °
of the forewing in the male, but also on account of its peculiar
coloration. The Capparidace appear to be the natural attraction
for the Teracoli, C. galeata and its allies being specially attractive
to T. faustus, T. vi and others of that group.
25. T. calais, Cramer, Pap. Exot., vol. i, pl. lii, figs. C, D (1779).
T. dynamene, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. vi, figs. 15, 16 (1829),
T. carnifer, Butler, P. Z. S., 1876, p. 138, n. 42, pl. vu, figs.
8, 9. At Aden I consider these three forms to be varieties of one
species. I have taken them “in coittii”’ together, they fly at the same
season, andall the specimens of 7’. ca/ais taken were, I believe, females:
With the exception of 7. pleione and (perhaps) S. glauconome,
this is the commonest butterfly in Aden.
26. TL. phisadia, Godart, Enc. Méth., vol.ix, p. 182, n. 40 (1819).
Common. This butterfly has near Aden at least four forms of
female :—
(a) One resembling the male.
(6) A creamy white form.
(c) A saffron yellow form.
(d) A pure yellow form.
It is one of the handsomest species in the genus. Col. Swinhoe,
1. c., quotes this species as ‘‘ the common form of the group at Aden.”
Though common it is nothing like so common as T. dynamene.
27. T. vi, Swinhoe, P. Z.8., 1884, p. 437, pl. xxxix, figs. 6, 7.
Although not uncommon it was a long time before I got any number
of specimens of this butterfly. Many a weary ten minutes [
spent waiting for it to come to some patch of Capparis galeata on
a barren hill-side, a burning sun overhead and a precipice below ;
in due course it possibly came, but if missed came back no more,
NOTES ON BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN, 215
and the nature of the ground made it impossible to follow it. One
day, however, I was on the plateau above the tanks after the sun
had sunk well behind the Shum-Shum Ridge, and, while hurrying
along to get down before dark, passed through a patch of a plant
(name unknown, but whose chief characteristic is the tenacious
manner in which the leaves cling to one’s trousers), when to my
surprise I disturbed a specimen of TZ. vi, which I netted and on
investigation foind that the butterfly came to roost there, the
underside of the insect being of the same colour as the dead leaves
and stalks of the plant. After some searching I got four more males
and two females, considerably more specimens than I had
taken in the six months or so previous. A big green and white spider
had also found out this habit and my first female was rescued
from its clutches. When first caught this species is of a beautiful
rosy salmon colour, a tint in great measure lost after death.
28. Teracolus pletone, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. viii, figs. 7, 8 (1829).
The commonest butterfly in Aden, though, strange to say, I never
met with it inland. There are two forms of females,—white and
yellow. Colonel Swinhoe, |. c., speaks of the former as albinos. This
is misleading: the white females being the normal form, and being to
the yellow ones probably in the proportion of three to one, I reared
some caterpillars feeding on Cleome, n. sp.? (This plant could not be
identified at the British Museum.) 1’. miriam, with a macular border
to the hindwing, appears to be nothing but a casual variety of this
species. AtAden these two forms fly together and interbreed freely.
29. TT. celestis, Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1884, p. 435, pl. xxxix, figs.
i es
30. T. acaste, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. vu, figs. 16, 17 (1829).
These two forms are (almost to a certainty) varieties of one
species. The so-called albinos of Colonel Swinhoe, 1. ¢c., being the
normal form of female, and being to the yellow ones in the propor-
tion of at least seven to one.
The number of yellow females of this and the preceding species
appeared to me to have greatly increased between 1869 (when I
first collected butterflies at Aden) and 1885 (when [I left on
completion of my second tour), and it is possible that a development
in this direction is steadily, though slowly, goimg on.
216 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
31, TZ. protomedia, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. viii, figs. 13, 14 (1829).
This fine species is not at all uncommon inland: it is nearly
double the expanse of any other species in the genus I have
ever seen,
_ 82. J. miles, Butler, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. History, ser. 5,
vol. xii, p. 105 (1883). TI only took two specimens of this insect
on 7th July, 1883, and 11th July, 1883, respectively. From the table
given by Mr. Builer, P. Z. 8., 1884, p. 757, the Aden form appears
to be doubifully distinct from TZ. ewpompe.
33. ‘T’. epigone, Felder, Reise der Novara, Lep., vol. i, p. 186,
n. 180. I took one maleand one female of this species at Haithalhim
on 4th and 5th April, 1884, respectively.
34. TT, nouna, Lucas, Expl. Alg., Zool., vol. ii, p. 3850, n. 14,
pl. i, fig. 2 (1849).
35. T. saweus, Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1884, p. 441, pl. xl, figs. 4, 2.
I have little doubt that these two forms are varieties of one
species : both forms are common inland.
36. TL. yerburii, Swinhoe, P. Z.8., 1884, p. 441, pl. xxxix, fio. 12.
Not uncommon inland. On one occasion I found this species and
T. protomedia i fair numbers at the so-called forest at Shaik
Othman close to Aden.
37. T. swinhoei, Butler, P. Z. 8., 1884, p. 491, n. 33. I took a
single specimen of this butterfly at Haithalhim on 5th April, 1884.
It is somewhat like the preceding species, but is a larger insect with
a yellow instead. of a creamy-white ground-colour.
Before leaving the Teracoli, I would submit for the consideration
of those more familiar with the subject than myself, whetber in the
Idmais group it be not the case that the males are fairly constant,
whereas the females show considerable variation : e.g., at Aden we
have 7. phisadia with four or more forms of female (certain), 7. pletone
two forms (certain), 7. acaste two forms (almost a certainty), T. calais
two or three forms (probably). Should this be found to hold good in
India, I can imagine the havoc it may cause among such species as
T. puellaris, T. ochrerpennis, T. intermissus, T. rosus, 5:c., all of which
I have personally looked on with suspicion as females of 7. vestalis.
38. Belenots lordaca, Walker, Entom., vol.v, p. 48. Very common.
I reared some caterpillars on Capparis galeata.
NOTES ON BUTTERFLIES OF ADEN. 217
39. Belenois leucogyne, Butler, P. Z. S., 1884, p. 492, n. 35.
At Haithalhim in April, 1883, I found the males common, while the
females were rare.
40. Synchloé glauconome, Klug, Symb. Phys., pl. vu, figs. 18, 19
(1829). Very common. In Aden the caterpillar feeds on Cleome
paradoa, while inland it feeds on Dipterygiwm glaucum. On one or
two occasions I found whole clutches of larvee destroyed by some
hymenopterous parasite ; the parasite had formed its cocoon inside the
body of the caterpillar, while the caterpillar’s withered-up head and
- tail projected at each end beyond the cocoon, When at home I
saw in the collection of Mr. Bignell of Plymouth some larve of
Gonepteryx rhamni which had been destroyed in precisely the
same manner. The parasites in each case were probably closely
allied.
41. Nepheronia arabica, Hopffer, in Peter’s Reise nach Mozam-
bique, Zool., vol. v, p. 363, var. B (1862). Fairly common inland.
Mr. Butler told me one day at the British Museum that the neura-
tion in all (but one) of the Aden specimens was abnormal: from this
and other like cases neuration appears to be as little trustworthy as
colour as a means of identification.
Family—HEsPERIIDm.
42, Ismene anchises, Gerstaecker, in Von der Decken’s Reise in
Ost.- Afrika, vol. iii, p. 374, n. 29, pl. xv, figs. 6, 6a (1873). Not uncom-
- mon in June and July, 1883: only onceseen inland. As in the case of
T. vi, it wasa long time before I got among these “skippers.” At
last, however, I found their roosting place in Gold Mohur Valley ona
plant with a yellow flower rather like a monster groundsel: after this
I had no difficulty in getting specimens, sometimes taking seven or
eight in an evening.
43. Parnara mathias, Fabricius, Ent. Syst., Suppl., p. 433 (1798).
Very common.
44. Gegenes karsana, Moore, P. Z.8., 1874, p. 576, pl. lxvii, fig. 6.
Not uncommon, especially in the lucerne fields at Shaik Othman.
45. Pyrgus evanidus, var. adenensis, Butler, Ann. and Mag. Nat.
Hist., ser. 5, vol. v, p. 228. Common in Aden. Not seen inland.
46. Thanaos djalele, Wallengren, Lep. Rhop. Caffr., p. 54 (1857).
Aden, a single specimen, Ist July, 1883.
218 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
47. Gomalia elema. A butterfly taken at Haithalhim, 30th
December, 1884, was identified by Mr. Butler as this species—it was
“a Singleton.” Ido not know where the original description of
this species is to be found.
The above exhausts my list of captures. There are four butter-
flies, however, that there is fairly good ground for assuming may be
found in the neighbourhood, but acting on the principle of accepting
only that which is caught and identified by a competent entomolo-
gist as history, while that which is seen or is unidentified remains
a mystery, leads me not to include them in my list.
The reputed species are as follows :—
I found these two species in the
i. A lyceenid—Castalius sp.? box of a brother-collector: he
ii. A pierid—Teracolus sp. stated that he had taken both
species at Haithalhim, but as he
did not label his specimens, and moreover had Indian, Abyssinian,
and Aden insects jumbled up in this box together, I declined to
accept the locality.
ii. A Papilio, described as being like the Indian P. ervthonius.
iv. A hesperid—Jsmene sp.? Of the existence of this butterfly
there is “no possible probable shadow of doubt.’? I met with
it on several occasions, but it so persistently avoided my net
that at length I took to calling it the “Phantom skipper.” It
was a large purple skipper, quite unlike anything I have seen
elsewhere. Dr. Hay, at that time Port Surgeon, and who was
interested in entomology, told me that he once got one of these
skippers under his hat, but did not succeed in boxing it. I
also heard of it from Mr. Chevalier and other employés of
the Eastern Telegraph Co. Though I do not expect that
many species will be added to my list from Aden itself, still (as
I never visited Lahej between April and December, nor had I a
chance of visiting the mountains inland, nor the neighbourhood of
Shugra) I am sure that several species remain to be added from the
vicinity, and I hope that somebody will carry on investigations into
the entomology of the district, so that we may some day have a
tolerably complete list of the Rhopalocera of Southern Arabia.
- .
j
Journ: Bompay Nar Hist Socizry. Vos Vil. A.
wesit
Se
EQS Sia
. A Forel del , B.E) S Press, Lath:
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 219
LES FORMICIDES DE L’EMPIRE DES INDES ET DE
CEYLAN.
Par Auguste Forest,
Professeur a |’ Université de Ziirich.
Part I.
(With a Plate.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 5th April, 1892.)
M. Fornaro de St. Gall m’ayant mis, il y a quelques années, en
relation avec M. le professeur Wood-Mason, Directeur de |’Indian
Museum, a Calcutta, je commencai a recevoir, par son intermés
diaire, un certain nombre de fourmis.desIndes. Mais c’est surtout
grace A V’infatigable zéle et A ’inépuisable obligeance de Mons. R.C.
Wroughton, Divisional Forest Officer, 4 Poona, qui m’a envoyé un
matériel trés considérable, récolté par lui-méme, aux environs do
Poona, ainsi que par Messieurs Gleadow, Aitken, Simpson, Sage,
Bingham, Daly, Taylor, Ferguson, Yerbury, Watson, Palliser, Bell,
etc., dans diverses parties de l’Inde, que je suis en état de faire le
travail suivant, dont ’honneur lui revient en premier lieu. Dr. Tull
Walsh m’a aussi envoyé un bon nombre de fourmis intéressantes de
Pooree, en Bengale. Hnfin M. Rothney a eu la grande obligeance de
me soumettre sa belle collection de fourmis quia servi dans le temps de
base A )’excellent travail de Mayr (Beitriige zur Ameisenfauna Asiens,
dans Verh. d. K. K. Zool. bot. Gesellsch. Wien, 1878), Malgré ce
travail, ainsi que ceux de Jerdon, de Smith, et d’Hmery, la faune des
fourmis des Indes est encore mal connue. Je veux essayer d’en
donner une vue d’ensemble, tout en décrivant les espéces nouvelles.
La famille des Formicides doit étre divisée en cinq sous-familles
comme suit :—
Vessie 4 venin 4 coussinet (voir Forel: Fourmis de la Suisse, 1874;
et André, Species des Formicidesde V’ Europe, 1881). Aiguillon
entiérement transformé en appareil de soutien pour Vorifice
de la vessie. Un seul article au pédicule. Abdomen propre-
ment dit sans rétrécissement aprés le premier segment. Ouver-
ture du cloaque circulaire, apicale, ciliée. Corps en général
plus ou moins mou. Nymphes avec ou sans cocon. Les ailes
n’ont jamais plus d’une cellule cubitale .......... Gated ioeadeaire sss
seccecssctectecrecsscses Lore 9.°Eamille CAMPONOTIDAS (Forel),
220 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
x
Vessie & venin sans coussinet. Aiguillon rudimentaire mais non
transformé. Un seul article au pédicule. Abdomen sans ré-
trécissement. Ouverture du cloaque transversale, non ciliée,
inférieure ou apicale. Nymphes nues. Corps en général plus ou
moins mou. Les ailes ont souvent deux cellules cubitales ......
Denenenceeas soe. 2me §.-Famille DOLICHODERIDA (Forel).
Vessie 4 venin sans coussinet. Aiguillon fort. Un seul article au
pédicule. Abdomen, proprement dit, ordinairement plus ou
moins rétréci aprés le premier segment. Nymphes toujours
entourées d’un cocon. Corps en général dur. Vie sédentaire
i Uesocecuecnosbuob sue {soO00 3me 8.-Famille PONHRIDAi (Lepeletier).
Vessie & venin sans coussinet. Aiguillon fort ou faible, toujours
distinct. Nymphes entourées d’un cocon. Corps dur. Pédi-
cule tantdt d’un, tantdt de deux articles, dans ce dernier cas
seulement chez les ouvriéres. Femelles aptéres et aveugles,
ouvriéres soit aveugles, soit avec deux ocelles en lien et place
des yeux composés. Males grands, ailés, avec des mandibules
grandes sans dents et d’énormes yeux. Fourmiliéres trés con-—
sidérables, mais nomades (fourmis de visite). Habitudes trés
carnassi€éres,........4me §.-Famille DORYLIDA (Shuckard).
Vessie & venin sans coussinet. Aiguillon fort ou faible, toujours
distinct. Deux articles au pédicule, ce qui en donne un de
moins & ’abdomen proprement dit. Nymphes toujours nues.
Corps en général dur. Les femelles ont toujours des ailes.
Males parfois aptéres ............ Sme §S.-Famille MY RMICIDA
(Lepeletier).
2 signifie femelle. % signifie ouvriére.
$ i sritalkes 2. pa soldartic
Tere Sous-ramittE CAMPONOTIDAI.
TABLEAU DES GENRES (chez la ).
Antennes de 12 articles chez les ouvriéres, de 18 chez les
Sépales du gésier non réfléchies ..... wa ae slatted ftheite teen 1
Antennes de 11 articles * au plus chez les ¥ et de 12 au plus
chez les &. Sépales du gésier réfléchies en parasol.
Nymphes toujours entourées d’un cocon ..........6+ Glens seria 8
* Chez les genres de I’Inde et de Ceylan.
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 221
1. Les antennes s’articulent au milieu du céoté des arétes frontales,
loin du bord postérieur de l’épistome ............ Genes temic 2
Les antennes s’articulent aux angles postérieurs de l’épistome.
Palpes maxillaires de 6, labiaux de 4 articles,......... eee Hi
2. La téte des grandes et des petites ouvriéres a laméme forme et
la méme grandeur relative. Palpes maxillaires de 5, labiaux
de 4 articles. Pédicule trés allongé et étroit. Nids filés en
soie dans les feuilles .......... ... GCOPHYLLA (Smith).
La téte de toutes les ouvriéres, qui sont & peu prés de méme
taille, a la méme forme et la méme grandeur relative.
Pédicule court, surmonté d’une écaille. Palpes maxillaires
de 6 articles, dont le premier trés petit, palpes labiaux de
4 articles. Corps en général épineux, court, courbé.
Abdomen globuleux, le premier segment recouvre ordi-
nairement plus de la moitié de abdomen. Nids petits,
filés en coques de soie...... POLYRHACHIS (Shuckard).
De grandes ouvriéres a téte large et grosse et de petites
ouvrieres a téte étroite. Palpes maxillaires de 6, labiaux
de 4 articles. Corps sans épines. Pedicule court, surmonté
dune écaille ou d’un neeud. Abdomen ovale, allongé ;
le premier segment recouvre moins de la moitié de l’abdo-
men. Nids sculptés dans le bois ou minés dans la terre
del aaia'ss seresrecsecsessegseesensee CAMPONOTUS (Mayr). 3
3. a téte des grandes ouvriéres ou soldats et des 2 est tronquée
devant en biseau, celle des petites ouvriéres est courte et
obtuse. L’épistome, parfois plus large derriére que devant,
se prolonge chez la@ et la 3 major en arriére au dela de la
troncature. Nymphes nues. Thorax large ou de form
cylindrique derriere. Trés ordinairement les § moyennes
n’existent pas, et les grandens 3 forment une caste
distincte (soldat: Q...secccssoese oes 8. G. coLoBopsis (Mayr).
La téte n’est pas tronquée, ou, lorsqu’elle est subtronquée,
’épistome ne depasse pas la surface tronquée. Nymphes
entourées d’un cocon. Thorax comprimé ou bordé
derriére, Pas de soldat distinct .........8. G. CAMPONTOUS
(Mayr ; sens strict).
29
222 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, %892.
4, La fossette clypéale est distinctement séparée de la fossette
antennaire. Corps gréle, abdomen fortement voité, plutot
Chroih Chez 1a. cco.wsnesccceweanus PRENOLEPIS (Mayr).
La fossette clypéale et la fossette antennaire sont confluentes. 5
5. Les premiers articles du funicule de l’antenne sont plus longs
que les suivants (sauf le dernier). Trois ocelles distincts.
Aire frontale trés distincte ........0..0000. shaking abhoneaente 6
Les articles 2, 3, 4, et 5 du funicule de l’antenne sont plus
courts, ou tout au plus aussi longs, que les suivants.
Ocelles nuls ou indistincts. Aire frontale peu distincte.
Corps court et épais ....... eahbgacsneucat haces vitae ies cemeeme 7
6. Le 4™° article des palpes maxillaires presque deux fois—long
comme le 5™*, Arétes frontales presque paralléles, con-
caves extérieurement. Hcaille du pédicule plus ou moins
nodiforme. Abdomen comprimé ........0..-068 MYRMECO-
CYSTUS (Wesmael).
Le 4° article des palpes maxillaires est seulement un peu plus
long que le 5™°. Arétes frontales divergentes, plut6t con-
vexes extérieurement. Hecaille mince et haute ..... soceseneee
wicbibie candied Nerd See Maefetwn sate SGNIA TTS < Ru medyelsteebe FORMICA (Linne).
7. Mandibules longues, trés croisées, pointues, 4 bord terminal
oblique, fortement denté. Les grandes 3 ont la téte fort
grosse. Fossette antennaire et fossette clypéale moins con-
HWENTESL tae Meer sense teectelsch PSHUDOLASIUS (Emery).
Mandibules triangulaires, de forme ordinaire. Petites et grandes
ouvricres de méme forme et peu variables de taille ...... Se
Reta eee utobids SemelSelaakea ics eis sash ud demeumeninesee LASIUS (Fabr).
8. Fossette antennaire séparée assez distinctement de la fossette
clypéale. Trois ocelles. Métanotum et écaille dentés ou
€pineux. Palpes maxillaire de 6, labiaux de 4 articles......
mike onoeiesietisslo ciotiertns Gonadagsecoo ... ACANTHOLEPIS (Mayr).
Fossette antennaire et fossette clypéale confluentes. Pas
d’ocelles. Métanotum et écaille mutiques......... Mencsacc
9, Palpes maxillaires de 2, labiaux de 8 articles. Abdomen
acuminé a l’extrémité. Corps trapu. Epistome court, large-
ment échancré devant. Peu de difiérence de taille entre
Onet la S cetcunpoes SMCS rac eaee ACROPYGA (Roger).
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 223
Palpes maxillaires de 6, labiaux de 4 articles. Abdomen
non acuminé. Femelle beaucoup pius grande que la &...
CEA c ted Seuss doistaasssonivsss <P LAGIOLERIG) (Mayr).
ler Genre Camponotus, Mayr.
1. Sous genre Camponotus sens strict Mayr.
Tubleau des owvriéres des especes de la faune de ? Empire des Indes
et de Ceylan.
1. Dos du thorax interrompu et échancré entre le mésonotum et le
métanotum. Ce dernier de forme particuliére ............ 2
Dos du thorax continu, formant une votite plus on moins forte
et ininterrompue. Le thorax est elargi devant, comprimé
derriére. Le métanotum n’a rien de particulier ......... 6
2. Mandibules armées de 5 dents seulement. Hpistome sans lobe
antérieur ni caréne. Métanotum tronqué et plus ou moins
concave derriére, Corps court, robuste..........ccceeseseee
Mandibules armées de 7 48 dents. Epistome caréné ou subcaréné,
avec un lobe antérieur median plus ou moins développé.
Métanotum en bosse arrondie en tout sens. Corps allongé,
mat, pubescent; tibias et scapes avec des poils dressés... 4
38. Longueur 344 millimétres. Luisant, noir, avec labase de |’abdo-
men, les pattes, et les antennes quelquefois jaunatres, Face
basale du métanotum plus au moins rectangulaire, sans
dents. Hcaille mince, tranchante...... C. varians (Roger).
Longueur 6 4 10 mills. Mat, reticulé—ponctué partout. Metano-
tum excavé derriére ; sa face basale est nettement bordée,
rectangulaire, souvent terminé pardeux dents. Hcaille trés
épaisse, en forme de nceud arrondi ... C. sericeus (Fabr).
Abdomen subopayue, couvert, ainsi que le métanotum, d’une é€paisse toison ou
pubescence dorée qui cache enti¢rement la sculpture ...... var, ©. sERICEUS
i. spec.
Abdomen entiérement mat, couvert, ainsi que le métanotum, d’une pubescence
grisdtre, trés courte et trés espacée, qui ne cache nullement la sculpture
var. C, opacivVENTRIs (Mayr).
4, Téte dela 3 minor rétrécie derriére en forme de cou étroit,
son pronotum sans épaules marquées. Sculpture de la téte,
du thorax, et de ’abdomen densément réticulée-ponctuée,
avec de gros points élevés, trés épars. Noeud du pédicule
trés épais. Pabescence plutét grise. Longueur 11417 mill.
924 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Entiérement noir (var: camelinus isp) ou avec la téte rouge (var: singularis
Smith).—(—Form : cinerascens, Fabr.??)......... C. CAMELINUS (Smith).
Téte dela ¥ minor non rétrécie en cou derriére. Téte et
thorax, surtout le métanotum, abondamment parsemés de
trés gros points enfoncés, souvent Elevés..........eccecseeees D
5. Téte dela 3 minor tronquée derriére, aussi large derriére que
devant. Pronotum dela % minor avec des épaules dis-
tinctes, proéminentes. Plus large que le précédent et le
suivant, surtout le mésonotum. Abdomen sans gros points
couvert d’une épaisse toison dorée. Lobe de lépistome
trés court, presque nul. Longueur 9°5 a 15 mill.............
C. aAURIVENTRIS (Emery).
Téte dela 8 minor rétrécie et arrondie derriére. Pronotum
sans épaules. Abdomen abondamment couvert de gros
points élevés et d’une pubescence soyeuse contournée.
Ecaille moins épaisse que chez les précédents. Semblable
au Ocamelinus.( a9 atl2:o mills. os. 2 sancces- eeeeeeeeeeee
C., woLosERicus (Emery).
6. Scapes des antennes larges, aplatis, réticulés-ponctués et
subopaques. Tout le corps, les pattes et les scapes abon-
damment couverts de longs poils roux, dressés et grossiers.
L. 9313 mill. Mandibules avec 5 a 6 dents. C. mistura
(Smith).
Métatarses larges et fortement aplatis, surtout ceux des pattes antérieures.
Couleur d’un rouge sombre, mat, avec l’abdomen Nir ...........csereeeseeeee
race: C. MISTURA i. sp.
Métatarses étroits, 4 peine déprimés. D’un jaune roussadtre. Abdomen brun.-
Téte mate, le reste luisant ou subopaque .............0. race: C. FORNARO-
NIS. ni. st.
Scapes des antennes étroits, cylindriques, de forme ordinaire,
sauf chez le C. radiatus ow ils sont aplatis.......0....ces00 @
"7 Mandibules armées de 5 dents. L.3 & 5 mill; dun brun
rougedtre, mat, réticulé-ponctué ............ OC. RETICULATUS,
(Roger).
Mandibules armées de 6 4 8 dents a leur bord terminal ...... 8
8. De longs poils jaunatres abondants formant une barbe sous la
téte et sur ses cotés. Téte trés longue. Epistome lobé et
CAPENO cvcacsecsvencacsecveotscversersees es, BARBAMUSy a (Omerye
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 225
Dessous et cdtés de la téte sans barbe........sseeseesesseeee wreecee O
9. Ecaille et faces du métanotum bordées d’une rangée de soies
longues, raides, épaisses et blanches. Téte de la ¥&
minor A cétés paralléles, élargie et tronquée derriére.
Thorax peu convexe ; face déclive du métanotum oblique-
ment tronquée. Hpistome sans caréne, trés briévement
lobé. Tibias prismatiques et comprimés. Scapes aplatis.
Corps étroit, d’un noir trés mat ; fortement réticulé-ponctué
PIAGEOMEG teose 7 «lai weeensecctecs: elissvdecee Ce RADIATUS, Te Sp
Pas de rangée de soies blanches autour de Pécaille ni autour
GU MCTARODUNY”< Wicccsceseceened sees Ui Marscae te disecergsacaveee FC
10. Thorax trés fortement convexe; métanotum ne formant presque
qu’une courbe. Téte de la % minor étroite, allongée, un
peu comprimée, mais tronquée derriére, ot elle est presque
aussi large que devant. Tibias cylindriques, sans épines.
Entiérement jaune. L. 546 mill.(3 minor) ..... aa caiedales
C. INVIDUS, n. sp.
Thorax modérément convexe. Couleur autre....ccccsceccees as
11. Mandibules dentées a leur bord interne et 4 leur bord terminal
(denticulées au bord interne chez la § minor). Noir, avec
Vabdomen, les pattes et les funicules d’un roux brun.
i ebGr ay AG THI... cccccenscssatveniseeesssesassee Us CIGAR (Liatr,)
Mandibules dentées 4 leur bord terminal seulement. Taille
Poids POH OG: co sowavacets-Gabesnstednanaccaswelvoaeeas Saeemeasanckus 12
12. Téte dela % minor fortement rétrécie derriére les yeux, a
bord postérieur trés étroit, limité a l’articulation occipitale,
aussi étroit que l’extrémité antérieure du pronotum. Taille
gréle et allongée. Epistome caréné, briévement lobé.
Pattes et antennes trés longues .......... Sasaicnaa sane cewacen Wks
Téte de la 8 minor peu ou pas rétrécie derriére les yeux, avec
une troncature ou un bord postérieur autre que !’articu-
lation occipitale. Taille moins gréle. (Seulement chez le
C. festinus, la téte de la 3 minor est assez fortement
BEMPECISLGOPriElG.) . eieronseaceseaqaiseumeancsepanuneieedeta Sages ok
13. Téte de la 8 minor formant un cou distinct avec le bord
postérieur articulaire relevé. Tout le corps mat ou
996 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
subopaque, réticulé-ponctué. Tibias fortement prismatiques
et cannelés, sans apparence de poils dressés ni mémes
soulevés, mais garnis 4 leur bord interne d’une rangée de
piquants obliques. L. 12 4 15 mill. (ailesde la 9 enfumées
de brun) ......seseesesteesscseeeee CO. ANGUSTICOLLIS (Jerdon).
Téte dela % minor simplement atténuée derriére, ou elle est
trés étroite et allongée, sans former de cou, ni de colle-
rette. Corps ridé-réticulé, subopaque et en partie lui-
sant. Tibias un peu comprimés, mais non prismatiques,
ni cannelés, sans piquants, mais abondamment pouryus de
poils dressés trés-fins et obliques. L.8410 mill. Ressem-
ble au Cs Mm 16t8....0s- 00 -0:-00-0es0crens snes DORYCUS (SiMe)
race: carin (Emery).
14. Pubescence adjacente fort apparente ou méme dense......... 15
Pubescence adjacente tres courte et trés espacée ou presque
nulle (sauf chez le C. nicobarensis ot elle est un peu plus
HOSES) por nab nodasocduocaocoudosdeaqonsonnadaaeonscassancnoosancesoecy Lhe
15. Une pubescence adjacente longue, jaunatre, un peu soulevée,
espacée, mais abondante, surtout sur le thorax, la téte, et les
pattes, plus courte et plus espacée sur l’abdomen. Tibias
prismatiques, cannelés, sans piquants. Heaille épaisse & sa
base, avec le bas de sa face antérieure vertical, amincie au
sommet, peu élevée. Hpistome caréné, briévement lobé.
Mate. L. 10413 mill’ .............0... ©. LAMARCKIL, 0. Sp.
Une pubescence soyeuse ou grisdtre, trés adjacente, courte,
mais fort abondante, recouvre tout le corps, surtout l’abdo-
men, ol elle forme en général un duvet soyeux qui cache
la sculpture. Réticulé-ponctué et mat. Hpistome caréné
ou subcaréné et briévement lobé. ‘Tibias comprimés,
mais nullement prismatiques, sans aucun poil dressé ni
oblique, sans, ou presque sans piquants a leur bord
interne. Noir; segments de l’abdomen bordés de jaune
doré. L. 689°5 mill. ........... C. RUFOGLAUCUS (Jerdon).
Ecaille plus épaisse; pubescence plus serrée, plus égale et plus soyeuse; face
basale du métanotum plus convexe que chez la race micans d’Europe ;
le thorax est un peu plus étroit et la téte des 3 major plus large. Quelques
Piquants aux tibias ......ssesseesorsersorseseesseseess. FACE: C. PARIA (Emery).
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 927
Téte et thorax rouges avec quelques taches brun&tres irréguliéres. Abdomen
d’un noir brunatre avec une petite tache roussdtre au milieu de la base du
premier segment et une autre de chaque cOté de la base dusecond. Du
reste comme le C. paria, mais l’écaille est plus mince et la pubescence
moins dense. Pattes et antennes rouges, sauf les dix derniers articles du
funicule et Vextrémité des tarses qui sont Drums s.sccocceneeseessceee eesFACE ?
C. RUFOGLAUCUS, i. sp. (Jerdon). (=C. REDTENBACHERI, Mayr?)
Angles antérieurs du pronotum légérement accentués et surtout subbordés
chez la 3 minor. Puhescence de l’abdomen plus faible, ne formant pas
de toison notable. Thorax dela 3 major un peu échancré entre le
mésonotum et le métanotum. Piquants des tibias et des métatarses plus
forts et plus abondants, noirdtres. Poils dressés d’un brun foncé. Noir—
bord antérieur de la téte et mandibules rougedatres.........race : G. DOLEN-
DUS, n. st.
16. Epistome sans caréne et sans lobe distinct. Taille moyenne.
Ressemble du reste beaucoup aux races irritans, &c., du
QTOUPS MACULALUS ......000ssseseveeseeeee C. OBLONGUS (Smith).
Epistome caréné ou subcaréné et lobé ou sublobé (parfois sans
caréne chez le C. festinus)...17
17. ‘Tibias et scapes abondamment pourvus de poils entiérement
dressés, assez courts et assez fins. Tout le corps couvert de
poils dressés inégaux, jaunatres. Longueur( % media) 6°5
mill. Mandibules avec 6 dents obtuses. Hpistome caréné
a lobe antérieur trapéziforme, cilié devant. Téte rectan-
gulaire, tronquée derriére, plus longue que large, abondam-
ment couverte d’une ponctuation espacée. Lcaille épaisse
et étroite. Tibias étroits, sans piquants. Entiérement
luisant et jaunatre, avec les articulations et les arétes fron-
tales brunatres et les mandibules roussdtres .............00005
C. BUDDHZ, Nn. sp.
Tibias et scapes sans poils dressés, pourvus tout au plus de
POIEs OG MUEPNOR- Acc. .s.stcchannecewsr oeachesnddce tec! caueuesadsneee LC
18. Arétes frontales assez-écartées, sinueuses, mais aussi rappro-
chées Pune de l’autre a leur extrémité postérieure qu’a leur
extrémité antérieure. Téte dela % major grande, large,
(large de 2°9, longue de 2°8 mill.) et assez déprimée, avec une
ponctuation espacée abondante et distincte, fortement
excavée derriére. Hpistome subcaréné et sublobé. Taille
iS)
S)
JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
courte et assez robuste. Joues sans poils. Tibias un peu
comprimés, ni prismatiques, ni cannelés, sans piquants.
D’un roux testacé, avec les pattes plus claires, les mandi-
bules, le bord antérieur de la téte, les arétes frontales bruns,
et l’abdomen brun foncé. DL. 5:5 4 9°5 mill ...... visa so eeaeete
C. patiipus (Smith),
var. SUBNUDUS (Emery).
Arétes frontales plus écartées l’une de l’autre a leur extrémité
postérieure qu’a leur extrémité antérieure. (Sauf chez le
C. festinus qui est trés grand et chez lequel elles ‘sont
partout trés rapprochées). Téte nullement déprimée, de
forme ordinaire,....-.ee.eeee
19. Taille grande, 10 4 15 mill.(9: 29 mill.) Arétes frontales
rapprochées l’une de Vlautre. Luisant, glabre, élancé.
Pattes longues, un peu comprimées, mais non prismatiques.
Thorax étroit. Téte des 3 major triangulaire exceptionel-
lement largederriére. Hcaille épaisse, atténuée au sommet.
Téte de la 8 minor fort étroite et concave 4 son bord
postérieur, mais rapidement élargie (trés lentement élargie
chez le C. dorycus). Hpistome subcaréné ou sans caréne, avec
un lobe court, mais distinct. Mandibules grandes, luisantes,
avec des points extrémement petits et épars (quelques gros
points vers le bord terminal). Ponctuation superposée de
tout le corps trés fine, espacée. Sculpture tres faiblement
et trés finement ridée. Noir et rouge .........secceeseeceeees
C. restinvs (Smith).
D’un brun roussatre clair; abdomen mésosternum et métathorax d’un roux
fauve. Pattes et funicules d’un jaune testacé. var: C. DrLiGENs (Smith).
Taille assez petite, 5°5 49 mill, Mat; derriére et cétés de la
téte, puttes subopaques; trés densément et finement ridé-
réticulé, D’un roux plus ou moins brunidtre ou jaunatre,
avec les scapes, les mandibules, les pattes et ?abdomen
d'un brun foncé. La majeure partie des deux premiers
segments abdominaux devant et dessous d’un jaune roux ;
bord postérieur des segments d’un jaune doré. La 3%
minor est un peu plus foncée que la 3 major. Pubescence
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 229
relativement longue et abondante, surtout sur les cétés du
thorax, mais fort espacée. De longs poils dressés rous-
sitres sur le corps, surtout sur le devant de la téte et sur
Vabdomen. Tibias un peu comprimés, non prismatiques,
sans piquants, mais avec des poils obliques. Epistome
légérement caréné, & lobe trés court. Heaille épaisse,
étroite, atténuée au sommet. Sur le derriére de la téte,
souvent de trés petites mouchetures brunes ...........4.0s000#
C, micoBaRENsIs (Mayr).
var. ExrGuoGcuTTaTUs (Forel).
Ou bien la taille est grande, et alors le corps est mat et
réticulé-ponctué; ou bien la taille est moyenne ou petite, et
alors le corps est subopaque ou luisant. Mandibules
abondamment ponctuées, armées de 6 A 7 dents. ....0....008
seseeesssseeseevesseseee Groupe de races: C, macunatus (Fab.)
Taille grande, 6 4 15 mill. Réticulé-ponctué et mat. Noir, avec les funicules
les cuisses et les hanches rouges. Téte des 3 major énorme, avec les
cétés tres convexes et les angles postérieurs acuminés. Pattes assez
courtes et faibles. Tibias comprimés et prismatiques. Epistome caréné,
avec un lobe antérieur trés grand et échaneré de chaque cdté. Glabre
ca et 14 un poil dressé.......ceccesesceereeeeessetace : C. COMPRESSUS (Fab.)
Taille fort petite: 4°5 4 7 mill. Epistome caréné, avec un lobe trés court.
Téte de la 8 major relativement petite. caille basse, assez mince,
ordinairement large. Pattes courtes; tibias cylindriques, sans piquauts,
avec une pubescence 4 peine soulevée. D’un brun chatain foncé, avec les
mandibules, les funicules, et les pattes roussitres ou jaunatres ; souvent
deux tackes jaunatres sur le deuxiéme segment de Vabdomen de la &
minor. Pilosité dressée éparse, plus abondante sur le devant de la téte et
sur les joues. Assez luisante, finement ridée-réticulée. Devant de la
téte réticulé et moins luisant..........0.seeeeeeoeesrace : C. TAYLORI, n. Bt.
Waille moyenne. Luisants O11 subopaques ..icesc.ccsnce vescessercscsescaccescseseranerce A
A. Les tibias n’ont pas trace de petits piquants sur le bord interne, seulement 3 ou
4 piquants a leur extrémité inférieure, a cOté de l’éperon.........s0.000 B
Les tibias ont quelques petits piquants distincts a leur bord interne et n’ont
qu'une pubescence enticrement adjacente .......sssseseeseesescsscssereeeeees D
B. Epistome subcaréné et sublobé (lobe extrémement court). Taille plus courte
plus robuste que chez le mitis, comme chez |’ tnfuscus. Tibias postérieurs
(2:2 mill.) et scapes (1°9 mill.) bien plus courts que la longueur et la
* Notr.—Le C. nicobarensis typique de Kar Nicobar ne m’est pas connu, mais
difiére un peu de la variété continentale, d’aprés ce que m’écrit M. Mayr lui-meéeme.
30
230 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
largeur (2°6 mill.) de Ja téte. Joues sans poils dressés. Tibias abondam-
ment pourvus de poils obliques, assez courts, qui ne sont ni adjacents, ni
dressés ; ils sont 4 peine comprimés, nullement prismatiques ni cannelés.
Brun, avec la téte, Pabdomen et les scapes d’un brun plus ou moins
noiratre. L. 7A 10 mill .........sccscseseeeeeee race: C. IRRITANS (Smith).
Epistome trés distinctement caréné et lobé. Joues pourvues de poils
ARESSES sire shee seo oaeh sik oe aoa aela bs boa Cem re NOUa ee eioee caened Soe elec ene eee
C. Assez petib; L.5°547°5 mill. Stature de lirritans et du dichrous. Tibias
postérieurs (2°15 mill.) et scapes (1°8 mill.) environ de la longueur et
largeur (2°1 mill.) de la téte chez la % major. Téte de la $ major élargie
derriére; celle de la 3 minor presque aussi large derriére que devant,
avee un bord postérieur. Lobe de l’épistome rectangulaire. Quelques
poils seulement sur les joues. Les tibias sont presque cylindriques, sans
cannelure, avec une pubescence entiérement adjacente. De longs poils
roux sur le front, le vertex et le dos du thorax. D’un brun noiratre
avee les mandibules et les funicules rougedtres, les pattes dun roux
jaunatre, les hanches et les cuisses brunieS ..+.sccsssesseoseccenssereeterses cee
Pedeveutseeanue cos duslsasdesehecesacaecstpasiaanniess secescmani TAC C20 Cma NTC S Oil animes
Stature relativement svelte. Les tibias postérieurs (2°9 mill.) dela 3 major
sont un peu plus longs que la Jongueur (2°6 mill.) et la largeur (2°5 mill.)
de la téte. Téte de la 3 major a4 cOtés plus ou moins convexes, rétrécie
devant et un peu rétrécie derriére (la plus grande largeur est en avant des
angles postérieurs). Les tibias et les seapes sont abondamment pourvus de
poils obliques, assez courts, qui ne sont ni adjacents, ni dressés. Cdtés
du lobe rectangulaire de l’épistome plus ou moins concaves. Tibias
comprimés, subcannelés et souvent subprismatiques. Joues abondamment
pourvues de poils dressés plus courts que les autres. L. 6 4 10 mill...race:
auslesile stnclelenanmioisa |e cece wticeea caisebi esteaaeeeiecists ence temas cin CiJe VTIGK Sa aetna
D’un brun rougedtre concolore avec la base de abdomen pale ......... var» MITIS.
(Sens strict) Smith.
Roux, avec la téte, ’abdomen, les scapes noirftres ......... vare BACCHUS (Smith).
Entiérement d’un noir brun, avec les hanches et la base des cuisses souvent
IPEIZUINE! Sogn p9noooondedadeunnonosabqdeGHonsenooonqonoKenocoocooes WEIS MU CIEGmE (Mere).
Pilosité plus éparse, pubescence plus adjacente. Jaune ou roussatre, avec
Vextrémité de abdomen foncée ; téte et abdomen des 3 major bruns ......
var. DULCIS (Hmery).
Entitrement jaune avec Ja téte des 3 major roussie. Tibias 4 pubescence
entiérement adjacente (passage au groupe D) ...... var. ComMoTTor (Emery)
Cumme les C. mitis sens strict et bacchus, mais l’écaille est trés épaisse, presque
CONIGME sevsoaiees esnutes Vhicceecs cow guesuesesiestuneeddeanesscdenesV als (GR ASSENOD Is Meme
D. Assez petit; L.55 a8 mill. Stature courte, assez robuste, plus robuste que
celle du C. infuscus qui luiressemble. Epistome caréné et sublobé. Téte
de la 3 major longue et large de 2°25 mill.; tibias postérieurs et scapes
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 231
longs de 2 mill. Tibias & peine comprimés, ni prismatiques, ni cannelés,
avee quelques piquants fort distincts 4 leur bord interne. Pilosité trés
éparse. Joues sans poils. D'un brun foncé, en partie noiratre, avec les
tibias, les tarses et les funicules rougeatres......... race: C. JUNCTUS n: st.
Plus grand; L. 74 12mill. Taille bien plus élaneée, que chez le C.junctus, mais
moins svelte que cliez le C. mitis. Epistome caréné, avec un lobe inférieur
fort développé. Tibias comprimés, subcannelés et souvent subprismati-
ques, avec quelques piquants obliques sur le bord interne de leur tiers
inférieur. Téte de la ¥ major longue et large de 2°9 mill.; tibias posté-
rieurs longs de 29 mill., seapes de 2°65 mill. Pilosité fort éparse ; quelques
poils sur les joues. Luisant. D’un beau jaune avec la téte, la moitié
postérieure de ’abdomen et l’extrémité de ses deux premiers segments
noiratres ou brunitres; antennes et mandibules roussatres. Parfois le
thorax brundtre chez les 8 major. Trés voisin de la variété C. comottot du
GE MNUES occ cas sevecieccanvep tddsentedecaiaereeeseuss XAeGr C DICHROUS (PH Orel)-
: var, KATTENSIS Nn. var.
Les espéces badius (Smith), luteus (Smith), tinctus (Smith), arro-
gans (Smith), basalis (Smith), velox (Jerdon), vartegatus (Smith),
cinerascens (Fab.) me sont inconnues et leur description incomplete,
appliquable a plusieurs espéces, est indéchiffrable. J’avais pris
d’abord le C. radiatus pour le carbonarius (Latr.), maisil n’est ni
“an peu velu,” ni “ muni au métanotum d’une cavité pour contenir
Vécaille 2, puis Latreille aurait vu les soies blanchatres.
Liste pgs CAMPONOTUS DE LINDE AVEC DESCRIPTION DES ESPECES
NOUVELLES, SYNONYMIE ET GEOGRAPHIE.
1. C. sericeus ( Fabricius).
Formica aurulenta (Latreille).
Formica obtusa (Smith).
Formica ecinerascens (Jerdon ; nee Fabricius).
A. var: sericeus 1. sp. (Fab.).
Ceylon (Major Yerbury) ; Kanara (Aitken ; Bell; Palliser) ; Poona
(Wroughton) ; Pooree (Tull Walsh) ; Orissa (Taylor).
B, var: opaciventris (Mayr).
Dharmsala (Major Sage) ; Pooree (Tull Walsh) ; Barrackpore (Min-
chin) ; Calcutta (Rothney) ; Poona (Wroughton) ; Orissa (Taylor) &.
Le C. sericeus est commun dans l’Inde entiére. Le C. opaet-
ventris de Mayr n’en est qu’une variété de pubescence et de forme
232 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
du métanotum. Or ces deux caractéres varient & tous les degr és
tant en Inde qu’en Afrique d’ot cette espéce a été décrite en
premier lieu. ,
2. C.varians (Roger).
Ceylan.
3. C. camelinus (Smith).
C. sentlis (Mayr).
Formica cinerascens (Fabricius ??)
A. var: camelinus i. sp. (Smith).
Téte noire; Burma (Major Bingham).
B.. var: singularis (Smith).
Téte rouge: Darjiling prés Sikkim (Christie); Tenasserim (Fea).
I] est absolument certain que le C. singularis n’est qu’une variété
de couleur du C.camelinus. Ce dernier nom doit demeurer, étant
imprimé le premier.
4. C. holosericeus (Hmery).
Tenasserim (Tea).
d. C. auriventris (Hmery),
Tenasserim (Fea).
6. C. mistura (Smith).
Formica exasperata (Smith).
A. r: C. mistura i. sp. (Smith).
Tenasserim (Fea).
B. r: C. fornaronis n. st.
§ Major :—L. 12413 mill. La seule ¥ que je posstde différe
du C. mistura typique, non-seulement par ses tarses étroits (non
dilatés), mais par son thorax plus véuté et par sa sculpture bien
plus faible ; le thorax et les angles postérieurs de la téte sont assez
luisants et assez faiblement réticulés (fortement réticulés-ponctués et
mats chez le C. mistura i. sp.), L’abdomen est luisant (mat ou sub-
opaque chez le C. misturai. sp.). L’écailleest plus épaisse etaun bord
obtus (tranchant chez le C. mistura). Le O. mistura i.sp. a une pubes-
cence adjacente espacée assez longue, roussitre, fort apparente ; le
ZES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 233
C. fornaronis n’a qu’ une pubescence jaunitre, extrémement courte et
fine, trés peu apparente. La pilosité est comme chez le CO. mistura
i, sp. mais un peu plus espacée, un peu plus longue et de couleur
plus claire, plus jaunatre. Les scapes sont plutdt plus larges et
plus déprimés encore que chez le C. misturai. sp. Mandibules forte-
ment courbées prés de leur extrémité, armées de 6 dents. Téte
longue de 3°75 mill, (sans les mandibules*), large de 3°9 mill.
Longueur d’un scape, 3 mill., d’un tibia postérieur 3°2 mill.
Inde continentale. Peut-étre cette forme mérite-t-elle de con-
stituer une espece distincte.
7. C. reticulatus (Roger).
Ceylan.
8. C. barbatus (Roger).
Ceylan.
9, C. radiatus nov. sp. (voir le tableau).
Q Minor et media:—L. 5°5 47:7 mill. Téte relativement petite,
longue de 2, large de 1°8 mill.; longueur d’un scape 2, d’un tibia
postérieur 2°25 mill. Presque pas de différence de formeentre la ¥
minor et la § media. La téte est chez toutes les deux trapezi-
forme, élargie derriére, rétrécie devant; elle a un bord postérieur
distinct et n’est pas excavée. Yeux grands, situés au quart pos-
térieur de la téte. Mandibules petites, armées de 6 dents, subopa=
ques, trés finement striolées-ridées, abondamment ponctuées. Le
lobe trés court de l’épistome est un peu arrondi. Arétes frontales
longues, trés sinueuses, assez écartées et divergentes. Scapes trés
distinctement déprimés, un peu élargis. Pronotum subbordé et un
peu épaulé devant (bordé aux angles antérieurs chez la ¥ minor).
Le thorax est & peine convexe; a partir du milieu du métanotum
son profil longitudinal est presque rectiligne jusqu’a l’extrémité de
la face basale du métanotum. Cette extrémité forme presque un
angle un peu obtus avec la face déclive qui est plane, subbordée et
entourée, de méme que |’écaille, d’une rangée de soies blanchatres,
raides et obtuses. Sutures du thorax nettes, luisantes, mais ne
formant pas d’incisures. Hcaille basse, large, 4 bord tranchant.
* La longueur de la téte est toujours mesurée sans les mandibules. Je ne le répé-
terai plus a l'avenir.
234 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
Abdomen un peu tronqué devant et léeérement déprimé, & segments
i peine étroitement bordés de brun. Tibias comprimés, prismati-
ques, subcannelés, garnis a leur bord interne d’une rangée de petits
piquants. L’aspect de toute la fourmi a quelque chose de raide,
d’abrupt et de défini dans la forme qui la distingue de la plupart de
ses congénéres.
Entiérement et fortement réticulé-ponctué et trés mat, sauf les
pattes, qui sont subopaques et plus faiblement réticulées. L’écaille
et la face déclive du métanotum sont densément ridées en travers.
Une pilosité dressée d’un jaune blanchitre, éparse sur le corps,
nulle sur les tibias et les scapes. Sur le thorax et le devant de
Pabdomen, les poils deviennent un peu sétiformes et se rapprochent
des couronnes de soies de l’écaille et de la face déclive. La pub-
escence adjacente est fort courte, fort espacée, mais brillante, @’un
jaune blanchatre, trés distincte.
Entiérement noir, avec ’extrémité des tarses brun&tre.
Kanara (Aitken) ; Thana (Gleadow).
Cette espéce n’est-elle pas le C. carbonarius de Tatreille? M.
Kmery a vu un type du C. carbonarius dans la collection Spinola.
D’aprés ce que m’écrit M. Emery, la &§ media de Latreille corres-
pondrait 4 beaucoup d’éeards au C. radiatus, mais elle a 9 mill.,
l’épistome caréné, bisinué, non lobé, et les arétes frontales presque
droites, ce qui ne va pas & notre insecte. Ni Latreille dans sa
description, ni M. Emery ne parlent des couronnes de soles, si
typiques, de l’écaille et de la face déclive. Puig le milieu des
antennes n’est pas rougedtre comme l’indique Latreille, les yeux ne
Sont pas petits. Par contre la sculpture et le profil du thorax
correspondent a l’espéce de Latreille.
10. C. invidus nov. sp. (voir le tableau).
% Minor:—L. 5-5 & 6 mill. Tate longue de 1:45, large de
0-95 mill. Longueur @un scape 0°8, dun tibia postérieur 9°75 mill.
Mandibules armées de 6 dents, luisantes, faiblement réticulées vers
Ja, base, avec de gros points enfoncés vers lextrémité. Téte assez
distinctement comprimée latéralement, 4 cdtés paralléles, fort
convexe en dessus, 4 bord postérieur tronque, distinct, 4 peine plus
Labs g
LES FORMICIDES DES INDIES ET DE CEYLAN. 23
étroit que le bord antérieur. Epistome sublobé, sans caréne
distincte. Front fort convexe. Yeux fort gros et convexes. Le
thorax est trés comprimé et ne forme presque qu’une forte votite ou
bosse d’avant en arriére, mais cette convexité est plus forte derricre
que devant. Chez certains individus cependant (les plus petits) le
métanotum offre un peu plus de distinction entre sa face basale et
sa face déclive. Hcaille moyenne. Abdomen assezallongé. Pattes
et antennes fort gréles, tibias absolument cylindriques, sans piquants.
La chitine est trés délicate et transparente ; on voit les muscles du
thorax au travers.
Luisant, trés faiblement ridé et réticulé. La ponctuation super-
posée est trés éparse, piligére, apparente seulement sur le thorax.
Pilosité dressée, jaundtre, tres éparse, nulle sur les pattes et les
antennes. Pubescence adjacente trés fine, trés courte, jauniatre,
fort éparse sur le corps, un peu plus abondante sur la téte, assez
abondantes sur les pattes et les scapes.
Entiérement d’un jaune testacé assez pale. Mandibules, articula-
tions des pattes, arétes frontales et tarses légcérement roussis.
Dents des mandibules brunes.
Orissa (Taylor).
Cette espéce rappelle un peu le C. christ? de Madagascar, mais
ce dernier a une écaille cubique et le thorax moins comprimé.
11. C. gigas (Latreille).
Johore, Malay Peninsula (Indian Museum).
12. OC. angusticollis (Jerdon).
Formica ardens (Smith).
Formica impetuosa (Smith).
Camponotus prismaticus (Mayr).
Deccan ; Bombay (Coll. Hast India House); “ Ost indien” (dap.
Mayr) ; Poona (Wroughton) ; Kanara (Aitken) ; ‘Thana (Gleadow).
Une comparaison attentive des exemplaires de MM. Wroughton,
Gleadow et Aitken (2 et ¥ minor) avec les quatre descriptions
de Jerdon, Smith et Mayr, jointe 4 notre connaissance plus avancée
des fourmis de l’Inde ne me permet plus de douter de la synonymie
ci-dessus. Les ailes enfumées de la 9 (surtout autour des nervures)
236 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
la rendent trés caractérisiique. Elle a 20 mill. de long. Une
3 minor de 13 4 14 mill.
13. C. dorycus (Smith).
C. sesquipedalis (Roger).
race: C. carin (Emery).
Tenasserim (Fea) ; Bombay (Wroughton) ; Ceylan (Roger).
Les autres races n’ont pas été trouvées jusqu’ici dans I’ Empire des
Indes.
Je ne vois guére ce que le C. sesgwipedalis (Roger) pourrait
étre d’autre qu’un C. dorycus, ¥ minor, lors méme que l’auteur
ne parle pas de la pilosité des tibias.
14. C.lamarckz? nov. sp. (voir tableau 15).
% major :—L. 13 mill. Longueur de la téte (sans Jes mandi-
bules) 3°7 mill., largeur 3°5 mill. Longueur d’un scape 3°45, d’un
tibia postériear 4 mill. Mandibules relativement petites, 4 bord
externe 4 peine convexe, finement et irréguliérement coriacées,
subopaques, avec de gros points assez espacés, Téte échancrée et
_médiocrement élargie derriére, 4 cétés convexes. Epistome caréné,
avec un lobe antérieur rectangulaire, trés-distinct. Arétes frontales
longues, fort sinueuses, seulement un peu plus distantes derriére
que devant. Aire frontale courte, large, subopaque ou mate.
Thorax de forme ordinaire, reguliérement et assez fortement con-
vexe, avec un petit scutellum. Métanotum peu élevé ; face basale
presque deux fois longue comme la face déclive, LHcaille trés
epaisse en bas, tranchante 4 son bord supérieur ; elle a vers sa base
une face antérieure courte, presque paralléle 4 la face postérieur
qui est a peine convexe ; puis une face antérieure-supérieure oblique
qui passe par une courbe a la face antérieure inférieure verticale.
L’écaille est un peu plus large ct beaucoup plus haute qu’épaisse.
Abdomen grand. Tibias prismatiques, cannelés, sans piquants.
Une pilosité d’un jaune roussatre, éparse, formant surtout une
rangée autour de l’écaille et de chaque segment abdominal ainsi
que sur le dos du thorax. Sur le devant de la téte et sur les joues
cette pilosité est abondante et courte ; nulle, par contre, sur les tibias
et les scapes. Une pubescence jauniatre longue, assez grossiére
tres distincte, est réguliérement espacée sur tout le corps, les scapes,
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 237
et les pattes; sur les scapes elle est plus fine, sur les tibias distincte-
ment soulevée. Sans former duvet cette pubescence est cependant
fort abondante sur le dos du thorax.
Finement et trés densément ridé-réticulé et mat. Ponctuation
superposée obsoléte. A peine quelques points épars faiblemeut
imprimés sur le devant de la téte.
D’un roux testacé. Téte, scapes, dessus du thorax, dessus et cdtés
de ’abdomen d’un noir bruniatre. Tarses et tibias bruns. Mandi-
bules et lobe de Tépistome rougedtres. Bord des segments de
Pabdomen d’un jaune doré.
% Minor.—L. environ 10 mill. Téte a bord postérieur droit et
a angles postérieurs marqués, mais un peu plus large devant que
derriére. Longueur d’un tibia postérieur 3°7 mill. Thorax sans
scutellum. caille aussi épaisse que large et seulement un peu plus
haute qu’épaisse, du reste comme chez la $ major.
En partie seulement subopaque, mais en majeure partie mate.
Pilosité et pubescence un peu plus faibles que chez la 8 major.
Un peu plus claire que la § major. La moitié postérieure -de
Vabdomen et le dessus de la téte sont d’un brun foncé; le reste de
la téte, la moitié antérieure de abdomen, le dessus du thorax et
les tarses d’un rouge brunatre, le reste testacé.
Du reste comme la 3 major.
Nord de l’Inde.
Cette espéce, fort voisine du C. maculatus, race mitis, var. fusci-
thorax s’en distingue non-seulement par sa grande taille et sa
pubescence plus abondante, mais encore par sa sculpture mate et
son écaille épaisse. Cependant on pourrait encore la considérer
comme race du maculatus.
15. C. rufoglaucus (Jerdon ).
Formica pubescens ( Brullé, nec Fabr.).
Formica ( Camponotus } micans ( Nyl.) [race].
Camponotus flavomarginatus ( Mayr) [race].
Formica rufoglauca ( Jerdon ).
Camponotus paria (Emery ) [race].
Formica cinerascens ( Fabricius ??)
Camponotus redtenbacheri (Mayr ) [ Var. ?]
Camponotus doleudus, nu. st.
31
2938 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Le nom de Jerdon étant le plus ancien doit prendre la place de
micans (Nyl). la forme européenne devient ainsi une simple race
(micans) du rufoglaucus.
A. race: C. paria (Hmery ).
C’est la forme indienne entiérement noire. Lille est trés repandue
dans toute |’Inde, de ’ Himalaya a Ceylan et de l’Ouest a |’ Hst.
B. race: C.rufoglaucus i, sp. (Jerdon) (voir tableau).
Camponotus redtenbachers (Mayr 2).
Ceylan; Carnatique; Sibsagar, prov. d’ Assam ( Wood-Mason }.
C’est la race rouge avec l’abdomer plus ou moins noiratre. Cette
forme est souvent trés irréguliérement tachetée. D’aprés la des-
cription, le C. redéenbachert (Mayr) ne peut guére étre autre chose.
Cependant M. Mayr ne peut me dire si le type défectueux du
musée de Vienne est identique 4 mes exemplaires de Ceylan regus
de Major Yerbury.
C. race: C. dolendus n. st. ( voir tableau).
Cette race bien distincte rappelle un peu le C. ewgenie (Forel)
du sud de l’Afrique. Hlle a été découverte 4 Dharmsala, au nord de
Inde, par le Major Sage (3 2 ¢ ).
La 2 a les ailes faiblement temtées de brunatre et les nervures
brunitres. L’écaille de la 2 est faiblement, celle du ¢ profondé-
ment et largement échancrée. La @ etle ¢ sont d’un noir plus
mat que chez les autres races, et ont, de méme que la 3, les seg-
ments abdominaux plus étroitement bordés d’un jaune plus terne.
Du reste identiques, mais avec la pilosité et la pubescence comme
chez la 3.
16. C. oblongus (Smith).
Jalpiguri, Bhutan (Musée de Calcutta). @
17. C. buddhe nov. sp. (voir tableau 17).
% media:—L. 6°5 mill. Téte rectangulaire avec le bord pos-
iérieur droit et les angles postérieurs arrondis ; longueur d’un scape
1:9, d’un tibia postérieur 2 mill, Mandibules armées de 6 dents
plus ou moins rapées (obtuses), trés-finement réticulées-ridées,
assez luisantes, abondamment ponctuées, 4 bord externe médiocre-
ment courbé. Hpistome caréné, avec un lobe antérieur en trapeze, a
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 239
bord antérieur plus court que sa base et garni de cils. Aire frontale
assez grande. Arétes frontales divergentes.
Thorax médiocrement, vouté, élargi devant, comprimeé derriére.
Face déclive du métanotum peu marquée, longue comme la moitié
de la face basale. LHcaille étroite, ovale, biconvexe, épaisse, & bord
obius, épais, 4 sommet étroit. Tibias presque cylindriques (un peu
comprimés), sans piquants.
Luisant ; trés finement et faiblement chagriné. Une ponctuation
superposée, grosse, espacée, mais fort distincte est répandue sur
toute la téte, plutot plus abondamment derriére que devant. Sur
le thorax et Vabdomen les points sont plus petits, fort épars,
souvent un peu élevés et piligéres.
Tout le corps, les pattes et les scapes abondamments couverts d’une
pilosité dressée, pointue, jaundtre, de longueur et d’épaisseur trés
irréguliére; de longs poils sont entremélés de poils plus courts et
plus fins. Sur les tibias et les scapes, cette pilosité est tout-a-fait:
dressée et trés abondante. Pubescence adjacente trés espacée.
D’un jaune testacé. Téte, tarses, et scapes d’un jaune un peu
plus roussitre. Mandibules roussatres. Arétes frontales, extréme
bord antérieur de la téte, extrémes bords articulaires des segments
du corps et des pattes légérement, mais distinctement, brunatres.
Aux segments abdominaux, la ligne transversale brundtre est
située avant le bord.
Lahoul, frontiére du Thibet (Major Sage).
La pilosité, la ponctuation et la couleur de cette espéce la rendent
fort distincte, tandis que sa forme la distingue a peine du
O. maculatus.
18. C. pallidus (Smith).
Camponotus maculatus, r: subnudus (Emery) [var].
Burma (Fea).
On peut aussi considérer le swhnudus Emery comme race du
pallidus, mais pas du maculatus. C’est la var: swbnudus qui se
trouve dans l’Inde.
Le type du pallidus: sp. de Bornéo, est plus petit, a Ja téte moins
large et moins plate et deux ou trois poils aux joues. Les particu-
larités de la téte m’engagent 4 conserver cette espéce, malgré ses
affinités avec le groupe maculatus (rubripes).
2940 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
19. C. festinus (Smith).
A. var: festinus i. sp. (Smith), —
Inde orientale 9, 3.
B. var: diligens (Smith) (voir tableau 19).
Johor, Malay Peninsula (Wood-Mason) 9.
Le C. diligens (Smith) n’est qu’une variété de couleur du C.
festinus. Lua Q que je considére comme étant sans nul donte le
C, diligens et que j’ai confrontée avec la veritable 9 du festinus ne
peut étre interprétée autrement.
20. C.nicobarensis (Mayr).
Camponotus exiguoguttatus (Forel) [var].
A. var: nicobarensis i. sp. (Mayr).
Kar Nicobar.
B, var : exiguoguttatus (Forel) (voir tableau).
Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason); Burma (Watson; Fea) ; Cochin-
chine francaise (Musée de Lyon) ; Bangkok (Sigg).
21. Groupe de races: C. maculatus (Fab.) (voir tableau 19).
Groupe : C. sylvaticus (Oliv. Forel, Mayr, Emery, André).
Groupe : C. rubripes (Latr. [nee Drury], Forel). _
Nous ne pouvons plus considérer cet immense groupe comme
une espéce. C’est un groupe de formes trés semblables qui font
transition de un 4 Vautre suivant les régions. Telle forme du
groupe serait une bonne espéce distincte si on ne considérait que
certains pays, mais passe 4 d’autres formes par d’autres régions.
En Inde la race typique (maculatus i. sp.) n’existe pas. a race
compressus (Fab.) parait étre pour l’Inde une bonne espéce. Mais
par la Perse et ’Arabie elle fait passage aux C. oasiwm (Forel) et
C.cognatus (Smith). Pour comprendre le groupe C. maculatus, il
est donc nécessaire de ne pas se limiter a la faune d’un seul pays.
A. r: C. compressus (Fab).
Formica indefessa (Sykes).
Formica callida (Smith). [% minor].
Camponotus quadrilaterus (Roger). [9 minor].
Camponotus cognatus var. e. (Forel, nec Mayr, in Journ. Soc. A at.
of Bengal, 1835).
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 241
Extrémement commun et constant dans toute l’Inde, de Ceylan
(Yerbury), 4 Himalaya oi il atteint 6,000 ft. d’élévation (Mussorie
Hills, Wood-Mason) et de Bombay a Calcutta. La % minor est si
petite qu’on la confond facilement avec d’autres races du maculatus,
p- ex. avec le C. mitis var: fuscithoraz ; on la distingue cependant
Sans peine avec un peu d’attention parce qu’elle est trés mate et
presque glabre. Ce sont évidemment ces petites ¥§ minor qui ont
trompé Smith et Roger et leur ont fait instituer les synonymes
callidus et quadrilaterus.
La @ est relativement petite et fort semblable a celle du cognatus.
Ce ne sont que les 3 maxima avec leur énorme téte a angle
postérieurs acuminés qui offrent un facies particulier. Les % major
media sont tout-a-fait semblables au cognatus, de méme que le $
la 2 et la 8 minor.
B. r: C. taylori nov. st. (voir tableau).
% major:—L, 6 & 7 mill. Téte presque rectangulaire, & peine
élargie, mais échancrée derriére, 4 cdtés convexes en avant des yeux.
Longueur d’un scape 1°3, d’un tibia postérieur 1:35 mill. Mandi-
bules armées de 6 4 7 dents, ponctuées, assez lisses et luisantes
entre les points, plutdt courtes, 4 bord externe mediocrement
courbé. Hpistome caréné et sublobé; bord antérieur de la portion
mediane ou lobe presque droit. Aire frontale trés petite, distincte.
Arétes frontales fort divergentes.
. Le dos du thorax forme une vofite égale et mediocre. Face
déclive du métanotum bien marquée, longue comme les ? de la face
asale. Hcaille aussi large que haute, assez mince, convexe devant,
plane derriére, a bord supérieur subrectiligne ou convexe et presque
tranchant. Pattes et antennes courtes, tibias cylindriques, sans
piquants.
Luisant, finement et faiblement ridé-réticulé. Téte réticulée ;
devant de la téte moins luisant, densément et plus fortement
réticulé, ca et 1a réticulé-ponctué, avec de gros points épars en
partie subeffacés, en partie distincts. Sur le devant des joues ces
gros points sont abondants et allongés. Il y a deux ou trois
fossettes analogues sur le mésonotum.
Pubescence couchée extremément courte et éparse, presque nulle.
Pilosité dresseé et couleur : voir le tableau,
2942 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
% Minor:—L. 45 4a 6 mill. Téte rectangulaire, aussi large
derriére que devant, 4 bord postérieur droit. La téte est entiére-
ment luisante et faiblement réticulée; les gros points enfoncés sont
bien plus effacés, plus petits et arrondis. Hcaille plus épaisse.
D’un brun chatain plus clair que chez la 3 major. Deux taches
sur le deuxiéme segment abdominal, extrémité des hanches, base
des cuisses, genoux, extrémité des scapes et premier article des
unicules d’un jaunatre plus ou moins clair. Chez les exemplaire
de Coonoor, les pattes sont d’un jaune claire et seulement les 10
derniers articles du funicule bruns.
Du reste comme la $ major.
Orissa (Taylor) ; Coonoor (Daly); Poona (Wroughton).
Les exemplaires de Coonoor n’ont pas les taches jaunatres de
Vabdomen et ont les fossettes du devant de la téte plus fortes et
plus abondantes; ils ont aussi les pattes jaundtres et l’écaille un
peu plus basse.
. C. r: C. trritans (Smith).
Camponotus inconspicuus (Mayr).
Inde; Malay Peninsula. (Smith, Cat.). Bangkok (Sigg).
Il m’est impossible de considérer cette forme comme autre chose
que comme une race du C. maculatus, rapprochée des races C. mitis,
nove-hollandie, &c-, malgré absence presque compléte de lobe a
Pépistome.
D. vr. C. infuscus nov: st.
Ceylan (Yerbury).
Trés semblable au mitis var. fuscithoraz, mais plus petit, plus
luisant, moins svelte et avec une pilosité un peu différente (autrement
répartie, plus foncée, un peu plus longue et plus grossiére). Je
renvoie 4 la description du tableau.
H. r. C. mitis (Smith).
Formica ventralis (Smith) 3
Formica timida ( Jerdon )?
Camponotus agnatus ( Roger ) ?
ayar. mitis sens strict ( Smith ).
B var: C. bacchus ( Smith ).
Formica bacchus ( Smith ).
LES FORMICIDES DES\INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 243
y var: fuscithorax (Forel).
8 var: dulcis (Hmery).
Ces quatres variétés sont repandues dans toute Inde, de |’ Hima-
Jaya & Ceylan et de Bombay 4 Tenasserim.
« var: comottot (Emery).
Camponotus maculatus :r comottot (Kmery).
Burma (Comotto).
¢ var. crassinodis n. var (voir tableau).
Burma (Bingham).
F. r: C. junctus nov. st.
Je renvoie & la description du tableau. Cette race est distincte
par sa forme trapue, ramassée. Hlle est bien plus luisante que le
CO. mitis; elle a la couleur et Véclat de l’wthiops. La pubescence
est enti¢rement adjacente et fort espacée. Caréne de l’épistome
trés distincte, lobe court. Les mandibules ont 7 dents chez la 3%
major et 6 chez la 3 minor. Devant de la téte de la 3 major
simplement réticulé, sans gros points enfoncés; par contre une
ponctuation superposée petite, trés espacée et fort effacée sur toute
la téte. Mandibules ponctuées, trés finement striolées entre les
points. eaille 4 bord supérieur trés convexe (subacuminé) tran-
chant. Barrackpore (Rothney).
G.r: C. dichrous (Forel).
vvr : kattensis nov. var. (voir tableau).
Katta P. 6000.0 N.-W. Himalaya (Wood-Mason) ; Dharmsala
(Sage).
EXPLICATION DES FIGURES.
PLaNncuHF A.
(Figures tirées de— Forel, Fourmis de la Suisse).
Fig. 1.
Brachymyrmex heeri 3, vu de cété. Les pattes et les hanches des deux cotés,
ainsi que les palpes et les anteunes du cdté gauche ont été enlevées pour simplifier
le dessin. 1, 2, 3, 4, lames dorsales des quatre premier segments abdominaux.
1’, 2’, 3’, 4’, lames ventrales des dits. 5, Pygidium. a, anus (cilié). p, pédicule. e
écaille. s, stigmates. mtb, face basale du metanotum. m ¢ d, face déclive du
metanotum. msn, mesonotum. prn, pronotum. m s ¢, metasternum. ‘mesost,
244 - JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
mesosternum. ys Z, prosternum. p m, palpe maxillaire droit. p /, palpe labial
droit. ec, éjustome. Se, scape de l’antenne droite. f g, funicule de l’antenne droite.
Fig 2.
Aile supérieure et aile inférieure du Tetramorium cespitum 3 .
A.aile supérieure. 1, nervure marginale. 2, nervure scapulaire. 3, nervure
médiane. 4, nervure interne. 5, nervure séparante. 6, nervure basale. 7, ner-
vure cubitale. 8, nervure récurrente. 9, nervure transverse. 10, rameau cubital
externe. 11, rameau cubital externe. s, cellule scapulaire. e, cellule externo-
moyenne. é, cellule interno-moyenne. d, cellule discoidale. c¢, cellule cubitale.
y, cellule radiale (fermée). 2, tache marginale.
B. aile inférieure. ec, poils crochets qui la fixent a Vaile supérieure. 2’ a 7
nervures de mémes noms que celles de Vaile supérieure qui sont numérotées par
les mémes chiffres.
Fig. 3.
Abdomen du Bothriomyrmex meridionalis 3, vu de coté. 1, 2, 3, 4, lames
dorsales des quatre premier segments abdominaux. 1’, 2’, 3’, 4’, lames ventrales
des dits. 5, Pygidiwm. 5', Hypopygium. a, anus, (non cilié, en fente trans-
versale ). mm, membrane intersegmentaire. p, pédicule. e, écaille.
Fig. 4.
Aile supérieure de la Pheidole pallidula %. c, premicre cellule cubitale. c’,
seconde cellule cubitale. 7, cellule radiale (ouverte). Les autres lettres et chiffres
ont la méme signification que dans la figure 2 A.
Fig. 5.
Vessie et glandes 4 venin du Camponotus ligniperdus 3. v, paroi (antérieure
dilatée de la vessie qui est remplie de venin.' ¢, conduit de sortie de la vessie.
couss, coussinet formé par les replis du conduit excréteur de la glande, et constituant
presque toute la paroi postérieure supérieure de la vessie lorsque celle-ci est vide
g g, les deux tubes de la glande vénénifique qui se réunissent en un seul en
g acc, glande accessoire (bifide).
Fig. 6.
Gésier de la Formica pratensis 3 vu de coté, entre deux lamelles dont les
sépales sont un peu écartées. Les sépales des deux autres lamelles situées derriere
sont par contre un peu rapprochées, et se voient grace a cela entre les premiéres.
j, jabot, sep, sépales du gésier. Joule, boule du gésier. m, partie médiane, cylin-
drigue du gésier. p, partie postérieure du gésier, laquelle se trouve dans l’estomae.
est, extrémité antérieure de l’estomac, ouverte et vue de dedans pour laisser aper-
cevoir la partie postérieur du gésier; la couche inférieure de cellules glandulaires
a été enlevée, et il ne reste que la tunique externe avec les trachées. muse, couche
de fibres musculaires qui entourent la partie antérieure du gésier jusqu’au jabot.
c m, couche mamelonnée, gélatineuse qui recouvre chaque lamelle 4 l’extérieure.
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYZAN, 245
Fig. 7.
Premier article du tarse et éperon de la patte antérieure de la Formica presstla-
bris 3, s’articulant tous deux a l’extrémité inférieure du tibia. tid, tibia. ars,
premier article du tarse. e, éperon.
Fig. 8.
Téte de la Formica pratensis 3 vue de devant. m,mandibules. ce, épistome. j,
joue gauche. f, front. v, vertex. 0, ocelles. y, aile gauche. ss, sillon frontal.
a, aréte frontale gauche. fa, fosse antennaire droite (unie 4 la fosse clypéale).
Sec, scape de l’antenne droit. aire, aire frontale.
Fig. 9.
Vessie et glande a venin du Bothriomyrmex meridionalis 3. v, paroi de la
vessie qui est remplie de venin. e, conduit de sortie de la vessie. 6, bourrelet
formé par les replis du conduit exeréteur dela glande. g g, glande vénénifique.
@ ¢ ¢, glande accessoire (simple).
Fig. 10.
Gésier de la Plagiolepis pygmea % vu de coté, entre deux lamelles, mais un peu
obliquement, de sorte qu’on apercoit par transparence les deux autres qui sont
derriére. La moitié antérieure des sépales est réfléchie. Dans leur partie réflé-
chie, la membrane qui lesunit entre elles est chitineuse. Lettres comme dans la
figure 6, mais l’estomac n’est pas ouvert.
Fig. 11.
Gésier du Bothriomyrmez meridionalis %, vu de coté, entre deux lamelles (ces
deux lamelles, situées devant, cachent complétement les deux autres qui sont
derriére). Les sépales sont entiérement réfléchies en forme d’ancre. Lettres
comme dans la figure 6.
Fig. 12.
Valvule génitale extérieure de la Formica sanguinea $ , attenante 4 l’écaille du
méme coté. ec, écaille. v e, valvule génitale extérieure.
Fig. 13.
Mandibule gauche de la F. pratensis 3, vrossie 20 fois, vue de sa face inférieure
interne et postérieure. s a, surface articulaire. 6 e, bord externe. 6 4, bord
interne. 6 ¢, bord terminal.
Fig. 14.
Valvule génitale moyenne de la F. sanguinea $ «
Fig. 15.
Valvule génitale intérieure de la F. sanguinea $.
32
2946 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
REVIEW
ON
* The Mammalia of India—(continued from page 107).
We dropped Mr. Blanford at the tail of the Hlephant ; after whom
in his arrangement come the Hquide. Now the Indian Equide have
been lately discussed in these pages by our lamented member,
Mr. Steel, who knew much more about them than either our author
or his reviewer. It is only necessary to remark in this place that
Mr. Blanford’s printers have caused him to represent Hguus caballus
with four toes! (vide page 468, engraving), which liberality is
balanced by allowing only one to the tapir! Itis only fair to say
that in very few instances has the correction of his proofs been so
ludicrously overlooked. He puts all the Asiatic wild asses into one
species, Hgwus hemiconus, and passes on to the Hhinoceroses, of which
he allows us three. The chief is A. wnicornis, which, Mr. Blanford
says, “ was common in the Panjab as far west as Peshawar in the
time of the Emperor Baber.” This story is everlastingly turning
up: sometimes in very curious forms. It is not long since the
President of our chum Society was reported as having informed it
that the Emperor Baber “ killed Hippopotamuses in Bannu,”’ and
really the one story is not much more unlikely than the other. ‘The
author of the Book of Job expressly mentions Behemoth as indifferent
to the floods of Jordan, and, if we are to open our mouths for this
sort of scientific diet, a Hippopotamust might nearly as well have
got from the Jordan to the Kuram as a Rhinoceros to Peshawar.
The whole evidence in both cases is contained in the following
extract from the Memoirs of His late Majesty the Hmperor Zahir-
wd-din Muhammad (commonly called Babar Khan, very much as
our first Richard was called Coeur de Lion; and upon as good
cause). The Emperor (to be) was in possession of Kabul and
raiding in Afghanistan; and wishing to extend that operation to
Hindustan, ¢. ¢., across the Indus, he sent an officer to examine the
banks of the river ; and says he :—
“‘T myself set off for Sawate, which they likewise call Karak-
Karreh, to hunt the Rhinoceros. We started many Rhinoceroses,
* Fauna or British INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND Burma. Published under
the authority of the Secretary of State for India in Council. Edited by W.T, Blanford,
F.R.S. Mammalia; by W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. Part II. (Notice continwed).
+ The Hippopotamus existed in India in the Pleistocene period.
REVIEW. 247
but, as the country abounded in brushwood, we could not get at
them. A she-Rhinoceros that had whelps came out and fled along
the plain; many arrows were shot at her, but, asthe wooded
ground was near at hand, she gained cover. We set fire to the
brushwood, but the Rhinoceros was not to be found. We got sight
of another, that, having been scorched in the fire, was lamed, and
unable to run. We killed it, and every one cut off a bit of it as a
trophy of the chase.”
This extract is from Leyden and Erskine’s Translation of the
Emperor’s Turki Memoirs, and has been verified by the kindness
of Miss Hughes of the Royal Asiatic Society.
It is worth examining as a piece of thoroughly bad evidence.
In the first place the whole phrase, especially the word “whelps,”
shows that the passage is not from the hand of either Leyden or
Erskine, but from that of one of their.Munshis.
Further, the Emperor, the most vivacious memoir writer of his
day, and perhaps the very best of any who ever wrote in any
Asiatic language, dismisses the whole affair in the few words
quoted. Had he really been relating his first encounter with a giant
pacnyderm, is it to be supposed that he would have dismissed it
without any notice of its monstrous size, tough armour, and single horn
of magic virtue? Untila Turkimanuscript of the memoirs is examined
by a competent scholar, with his eyes open and his mouth shut,
we cannot tell what the Emperor really did write. Steps are being
taken in that direction, and it is hoped that some reader of this
notice (particularly any one at the British Museum, who could get it:
done in a fortnight) may take them on his own account.
Meanwhile, the most probable conjecture is that the game were
“Gonde” or swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli) existing in the marshy
jungles of the Indus within the present writer’s time, under that
name. The error of a Scribe (even of Erskine’s Munshi) would
easily turn “Gonda” into “Genda’’ (=a Rhinoceros), and that
would (if the Turki word is really at all like either) explain the
whole yarn. Baber evidently looked upon the whole affair as an
almost blank day ; and the present writer has seen a division of an
insufficient spoil, such as he describes, carried out as a joke in
the same region. The scene was apparently in the jungles near the
2448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
river, and there is not a scintilla of evidence to bring it near either
Peshawar or Bannu. Up to the present, at any rate, all that is
before us about the Trans-Indus Rhinoceros is a lot of careless
quotations, probably at second hand, from an obviously bad transla-
tion of a probably corrupt manuscript.
After the Rhinoceroses, in Mr. Blanford’s classification, come the
Tapirs, which are not in our province. Only this writer would
like to know where and when a Tapir was called a ‘‘ Danta”’ ?
There is some reason for thinking it an American word, but
it occurs in the Commentaries (so called) of the great Alfonso
D’Albuquerque, as the name of some Malayan animal apparently
resembling a Tapir, and any light on the subject would be welcome.
After the Tapirs, our author puts the genus Bos. We have only
one species wild—the bison, lately and sufficiently discussed in
these pages by Mr. Inverarity.
The Sheep and Goats come next in order, and we have only one
of each, both confined to the Sind hills. Our goat or Ibex,
Capra egagrus, is interesting as the widest ranger of all wild goats,
found from Crete to Sind, and probably the ancestor of most tame
goats. The “Field”? newspaper has lately published a perfect
little monograph on the wild goats ofthe world, which has probably
come within ken of most of our readers,
Our sheep, the “Gad” of the Sindis, was until now Ovis cyclo-
ceros, but Mr. Blanford identifies it with Ovis vignet of more
northern lands.
On the whole, it too has very good claims to the honour of having
begotten at least part of the tame sheep of the world, Otherwise it
is not a “‘ first sort buckrie,” except in the item of mutton.
After all, a sheep which produces good mutton justifies its
existence.
We regret to say that at this point Mr. Blanford’s second volume
begins to fall off. The next two names are ‘*Cemas goral” and
“ Boselaphus tragocamelus,’ of which the first is a misspelling, and
the second a mere barbarism. The man who rejected “ tibetanus”
and ‘ pnilippensts’? because they were not true, might fairly have
been expected to reject such outrages on philology, as neither Greek
nor Latin.
REVIEW. 249
Boselaphus tragocamelus—save the mark, is nothing but our
old friend Portar pictus: the Nilgai. The Maratha name “ Ruki”
or “Rohi” is wrongly given as “ Rz-7,” and a name given as that
used by the Gonds, ‘‘ Guraya,” cannot be universal, as Forsyth,
an excellent authority, gives ‘‘ Roki”? as the Gond name in the
“Song of Lingo.” The description is good, except that the
animal is described as “rarely met with in thick forest.” It was
very common in the heaviest Khandesh forests twenty years ago,
but does not inhabit actual thickets. Forsyth justly notices it as
the biggest brute in Central India, except the bison. A very small
(but mature and blue) bull, weighed piecemeal by the present
writer, came to three hundredweight. His live-weight was prob-
ably little under four.
The sanctity attributed to this animal by the Hindus enables
it to survive the other wild ruminants in some districts. The writer
can remember its being held “ not shikar ”? in Khandesh, and once
actually stoned a herd out of his way there, so careless were they
of the presence of man.
The practice of making enamelled shields of the neck skin, and
the general decay of piety, have made the Nilgais a trifle shyer
since those days, when Lord Mayo was Viceroy.
Mr. Blanford calls his next beast ‘‘ Tetracerus quadricornis—
the four-horned antelope,” which is a foul barbarism, unless indeed
we are to write Rhinocerus, or to give up even the Latin grammar
bodily. The rest of the article upon this creature that never did him
any harm, is equally inaccurate. It begins with ‘“ Fur thin, harsh,
and short.” Now, although this description does apply to some
skins, especially if compared with those of fine deer, the fur in
Bombay specimens is often thicker and longer than that of any
other Peninsular antelope, and scarcely more harsh than that of any
but the gazelle.
In a chance specimen, brought to the writer a fortnight ago, the
hair on the sides and back was nearly an inch long. In another,
now picketed by the tent, it exceeds an inch. The little beast is
almost shaggy, and this is its character amongst the strictly Indian
antelopes of the Peninsula. The writer has shot many; and kept
many alive ; and the specimen now referred to will probably live to
250 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
contradict our author in the “ Zoo.”’ It haunts, says Mr. Blanford,
“thin forest and bush and keeps chiefly to undulating and hilly
ground,” and elsewhere he speaks of it as found “‘throughout the
Bombay Presidency.”
As a matter of fact it is unknown in the plain regions forming the
most part of this Presidency, but is pretty common in the forests of
the Konkan and Khandesh, most of all in the heavy forests of
Western Khandesh, where the writer has seen many in a morning’s
walk. In that region, too, it strays far from water (which Mr.
Blanford thinks it never does).
On one occasion the water-bearers of a Bombay forest party, in
the “ Dry Jungle ” of Khandesh, missed their way; and left the
European leader, anda Bhil gun-bearer, to a very fair chance of
death or lunacy—or both. The creepers and “bel” fruit failed to
allay their burning thirst, and things looked very ugly indeed, when
a four-horned antelope came before the rifle. The Bhil rushed in
and sucked the blood as it spouted from the shot-hole. The white
man lit a fire, grilled and sucked the fresh meat. But both of
them were of the mind that the ‘‘ bekri”’ was the saving of their
lives, as they did not feel strong enough to struggle to the well
some six miles away. For the “bekri” the nearest water was
9 miles distant.
Mr. Blanford, however, is doubtless right in allowing only one
species of Tetraceros to India, and in utterly rejecting the name
‘‘Chinkara”’ as applied to it, stolen from the gazelle. Also in
speaking a good word for its venison.
A large female of Tetraceros quadricornis merely “ gralloched,”
that is with only the viscera removed, weighed exactly two stone.
The live-weight of a full-grown buck would probably not ented
half a hundredweight.
It is commonly confounded with the barking deer (Cervulus
muntjac) under the name of “ bekri”’ or “ bekad.’’ But in Khandesh,
at the period referred to, many native shikaris distinguished it
as “ran mendi” (wild sheep). Mr. Blanford thinks that it has
been sometimes mistaken for the hog-deer. But in the Bombay
Presidency all errors to this effect have been due to confusion
between the latter (Cervus porcinus) and the barking deer, or
more often, the mouse deer (Tragulus memimna),
LIST OF N. CACHAR BIRDS’ EGGS.
Tn several
251
cases
the present writer was able to ascertain this by actual conversation
with the reporters of ‘‘ hog deer”
where no hog deer was—cross-
examination of the witnesses; in fact, the error was not of observa-
tion but of nomenclature.
LIST OF BIRDS’ EGGS OF NORTH CACHAR.
Presented to the Society by Mr. E. C. 8. Baker, of
825 quat
913
926
1004
937
76
Nortu CacHar
Scientific Name.
Polioaétus ichthyaétus.....
Bubo coromandus ..,,......
Cypsellus batassiensis ..,..,...+«
Palaornis torquatus.....ssecceecee
Megaleema asiatica .....+...s00ee
Rhopodytes tristis see veeces
Centrococcyx rufipennis .........
5 bengalensis
LaNIUS DIFTICEPS ....00.20-c0sceers
Tephrodornis pondicerianus
WICIMNUSTALCL:..esccencnecsriens
5 longicaudata .......00.6.
Chaptia: son6).escs<ssascessasesves
BNC Al POIMOP s.jsocivanrbeeceers
Rhipidura albicollis ........c+0000
treater
eee res
Pitta nepalensis 00... :ssseccerees
PYCtOrhis SINENSIS ......00..0se00
Alcippe nepalensis ......ssesseee
Stachyrhidopsis ruficeps .........
Garrulax pectoralis 1.1.0 .00s0000
55 MONIC Ceacccesecos nee
Ianthocincla rufigularis .........
Argea candata ...0 ssscesssecceees
Molpastes burmanicus.......6.+.-
Franklinia gracilis .....
55 buchanan ..........4
Mesia argentauris .......00seesevees
Dendrocitta rufa .........-sccesees
FS himalayensis ......
Acridotheres fuscus ......
Ploceus baya...... Deedes
» Mmanyar...... eesiegaineaine sine
9,9 DengalensiS .....0sccreeee
Uroloncha punctulata .......600
of acuticauda ....ceseo-
A MaAlabarviCa ....00000v0
Bambusicola flytchii ......s00..
Hypotzenidia striata... ....scevse
Herodias intermedia
Pelecanus philipensis
Nycticorax griseus
Carine brama......
eoeree reece
Pee eee tetene
Pee reeretees
Fee roe see eet oes
fee eegreeseerereos
teerereee
, April, 1892.
Popular Name.
White-tailed Sea Eagle ........
Dusky Horned Owl .........008
PalWAMWILby | isecasntiness tencicans seers
Rose-ringed Parraket ...sceseaee
Blue-throated Barbet ......-..4..
Large Green-biled Malkoha ...
Common CouGal ......cetedsses carves
Lesser Indian Coucal ..,......+0
Black-headed Shrike... .....+ +00...
Common Wood Shrike... .cseeee
The Black Drongo.......
Indian Ashy Drongo .,......
Bronzed Drongo ........... +0
Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo ..
White-throated Fantail Ely-
Capeher Bivesascsspcuevecessrenaaiees
Blue-naped Pitta ....04 sesso reese:
Yellow-eyed Babbler
Nepal Babbler .......ccsce ces seaese
Red-headed Babbler....c+.ssse00s-
Black-gorgetted Laughing
Thrush .
Neck-laced ‘Laughing ‘Thrush.
Rufous-chinned Laughin ne
Thrush sees
The Striated Bush Babbler «.
Burmese Red-vented Bulbul - cs
Franklin’s Wren-Warbler ......
Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbier..
Silver-eared Mesia
Indian Tree-pie ..,.. Savsltas|costesanen
Himalayan Tree-pie ....0+serseeee.
Southern Dusky Myna............
PR GUS Yai ose cnnivec'sscieauwesilosisaals
Striated Wearer-bird seneenisaotnes
Black-throated Weaver-bird “ne
Spotted Munia ...........
The Himalayan Munia .......0....
White-throated Munia............
Western Bamboo Partridge......
White-breasted Water Hen......
Smaller Egret
Grey Pelican ... 0%. cevss008
Night Heroniy.tosseses ceclee
The Spotted Owlet ......
ee Or eeeeee
eeee
pee eeeroerer
eee weererrereee
eeeereeves
Pee tee Pee ree red enneee
feet ceeres
atenvee
eer tree
Total number of Eggs.
teares
No.of
Kggs.
One Meo BEANO REE NOBNENWHNWOew
WWE QRE RFR OBR RP RP WOE S
959 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
No. I.—A FROG SWALLOWING A SNIPE.
WueEn out Snipe-shooting on the Coast, on the 4th March last, I wounded
a Snipe which then flew into a Palm garden. While I was hunting for it my
attention was attracted by a rustling sound a few yards off. I prepared to
fire, but nothing appeared, so I approached to the edge of a pond where I
found the missing Snipe in the jaws of an enormous frog, in the act of being
swallowed. The frog was driven off and dived to the bottom ; the Snipe was
recovered, but was found to be quite dead.
‘ C. HUDSON, C.S.
GERSAPPA FALLS, 15th April, 1892.
No. II.—NOTE ON THE BLACK-TAILED ROCK-CHAT.
Cercomela (Myrmecocichla) melanura, Riipp.
Jerpon’s sole authority for including the Black-tailed Rock-chat in his
Birds of India appears to have been that among the drawings of Sir A. Burnes
was one of a saxicoline bird, procured in Sind, which Mr. Blyth identified as
Cercomela melanura, Rupp.
No other observer appears to have met with it in that locality.
Mr. Hume was of opinion that the drawing represented his Red-tailed
Wheat-ear, (Saxicola kingi), but the birds differ so much that I cannot agree
with him.
In the Black-tailed Rock-chat the upper parts are dark ashy-grey; much
paler beneath, gradually passing into the sullied white of the vent; the tail is
black throughout.
In the Red-tailed Wheat-ear the rump and upper tail coverts are bright
rufous-fawn, and the tail more or less bright ferruginous, with a sub-terminal
black band with rufous-white tippings.
Mr. Hume argues that when the wings of the Red-tailed Wheat-ear are
closed, and the rump and upper tail coverts hidden by them, and only the
black tips of the central tail feathers shown, it does bear a certain resemblance
to the figure of the Black-tailed Rock-chat; but surely the artist would not
have taken pains to conceal the only bright colour of the bird, on the contrary
he would have certainly made the most of it.
I found the bird very common at Aden, where itis one of the very few resident
species, and I consider that it is not at all unlikely that a specimen or two
may occasionally wander so far east as Sind, and I think we may safely
conclude that Blyth’s identification was correct.
The bird, owing to its sober coloration, is not likely to attract the attention
of any but the most practised Ornithologist.
MISCELLANKOUS NOTES, 253
The bird is of a bold and fearless nature, sprightly in habit, and where
encouraged soon becomes familiar.
It frequents rocks, stables, verandahs, old buildings, &c.,and often enters
rooms in search of food.
It is fond of perching on rocks, walls, telegraph wires, and roofs
of houses, and in the breeding season has a low, twittering, but pleasing
song.
They breed from early in March to the end of June, some may perhaps
breed earlier or later, as after I had procured one clutch of eggs, which was
on the morning after I landed, I did not trouble to search for them, and only
took notes of such nests that I accidentally met with, as I do not care to
collect eggs of other than Indian birds.
The nests are placed in crevices of rocks, stone-walls, under the eaves of
houses, and such like places.
The first nest I found was in a crevice, above the window of a dwelling
house, in a much frequented street; the opening and shutting of the window
did not discompose the birds in the least.
The nest is a mere pad, composed of grass, hair, pieces of rag, or anything
suitable that the birds can find.
The eggs, three in number, are broadish oval in shape, pinched ina little at
one end; the ground-colour is a faint greenish-white, and they are streaked,
spotted and blotched with bright red-brown, having a few underlying specks
of a pale inky-purple; the markings are bolder and denser at the large end,
where they form a more or less well defined cap.
They measure 0°8 inches in length by about 0°6 in breadth.
H. E. BARNES.
KIRKEE, April, 1892.
No. III.—TIGERS EATING THEIR YOUNG.
Some time ago I was asked if Tigers and Lions were cannibals, and I replied
that in an experience extending over nearly 36 years, although I had often
known of instances of the young cubs being killed by their male parent I had
never heard of their being afterwards eaten, and I still believe this to be the
rule. A few days since, however, I found an exception to this rule, and look
upon it as so unusual that thinking the incident may be of interest to some of
the readers of our Journal I send particulars. .
On the 17th instant I got kubber of a Tigress and two fine cubs in a small
hill about 3 miles from my camp, and going out with a friend we had a beat for
her and she was duly shot. The cubs did not appear in the beat at all, but
33
954 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
I ascertained from some Bhils that they were about the size of Panthers, and
so thinking them too small to be shot at and too large to be caught alive, we
determined to leave them alone, although a congregation of chatterimg monkeys
round some rocks, half way up the hill, showed very plainly where they were.
On the 22nd instant, rather late in the afternoon, my Shikari sent in word that
he had marked down a Tiger in the very same place in which the Tigress had
been found. I started at once, as soon as I could collect men for a beat, and at
the first sound of music out came the Tiger straight away for the place where
I was posted, giving me an excellent shot, which I took advantage of, and the
whole thing was over before the beaters had any idea of it. My Shikari,
coming along with the beaters, when he reached the place where he had
marked the Tiger down, went to have a look at it, and in a sort of hollow
place under a rock close by, he came on a dead Tiger cub which had evidently
been killed that morning, for it was quite fresh, and of which the whole of the
right hind leg and quarter had been eaten.
There was not a trace of a bitofit left anywhere; the cub had evidently
been killed by the Tiger, for there were the marks of his fangs in the throat.
On looking about, my Shikari found, behind a rock, close by, the half-eaten
remains of a large goat, and we afterwards found the tracks of the cub drag-
ging the goat up the side of the hill to its hiding place. The theory is that the
cub returned to the hill pretty early in the morning, bringing the goat with
him, and whilst he was eating it the Tiger putin an appearance and a row
ensued which ended inthe death of the cub. So far allis perfectly natural
until we come to the eating part of the business, which was certainly what
I had never heard of before.
W. SCOTT, Colonel.
PALANPUR, 26th April, 1892.
IV.—_NOTES ON THE THAMIN.
RUCERVUS ELDI (Panolia eldi apud Jerdon), the Burmese or brow-antlered
deer, seems to be peculiar to Burma and the Malayan Peninsula, though how
far north itis found does not seem to be clearly known. It is called by
the Burmese—Thamin, the accent being on the last, and not as Jerdon says—
Té-min.
The brow antlers of this deer are very long and project forwards, slightly im-
wards and downwards, the remainder of the horn curving scimitar-like outwards.
In a symmetrical pair a line along the horn from the point of the brow-antler
to the tip of the termin at snags will be almost the are of a circle. Most
heads have one line on the brow-antler and two or three on the top; an average
head has 10 points, but 12 points are not uncommon; there is a fine head in
the R. A. Mess. here, which has 14 points. The length of the horns measured
round the curve is, in an average head, 29 mches, greatest span 34 inches.
MISCELLANHOUS NOTES, 255
In height this deer is between the swamp and the spotted deer, being about 40
inches at the shoulder : its length is slightly under 6 feet—in colour a very dark
brown, inold stags considerably darker thanthe Sambur—in fact in the distance
when seen out in the open plains, they look not unlike a large black buck, so
dark are they—the hinds are light-coloured, almost the same colour as a female
Nilghai.
During the cold weather the Thamin frequents the jungles and hills, but
about the beginning of April they come down into the large tracks of kine
(elephant) grass which are found on the plains.
My acquaintance with this fine stag only commenced the other day on the
open grass plains of the country bordering the Sittang in the Pegu Districts.
They are there fairly numerous. The plan for shooting them is to start on
elephants as soon as it is light, and go working through the elephant grass
until stags are seen in the distance grazing on the edge of the grass; then
get down from your elephant and stalk them, In this way you seldom get
much nearer than 150 yards, and you must hold very straight, as the stags
unless dropped in their tracks go off into the grass and you never see them
again, and in this way a great number are lost. When the sun gets
hot, the herds, which generally consist of about 6 or 8 individuals, retire
into the grass to lie up for the day, then working back on your elephant
you can put them up, and, if a good shot, bowl them over as they rush away
through the high grass; you will also get running shots at hog-deer, which
abound. The herds which I have seen, as I have said, only consist of
6 or 8 deer, but Iam told that in some parts as many as 50 or 60 are found
together.
In the rains these plains on the banks of the Sittang become an immense
sheet of water with patches of grass standing up as islands, and in these the
Thamin and hog-deer take refuge. Iam told that then the villagers go out
in their boats and cut down the deer with their dahs (swords),
I see it mentioned in the Asian of 1st April, that a pair of exceedingly rare
horns have been found by the Irrawaddy column. “They resembled those of
the African gnu, and were said to have come from the Mishmi Hills.’’? These
must be the horns of the Takin (Budorcas taxicolor), I should suppose, as that
strange antelope is found in those parts.*
Since writing the above I have been able to take some measurements of
the Zhamin from some good heads lately shot.
Length of horn measured 1 2 3 4 5 Adie 8
FOUNG THE CUTVE weseercccedccceserssersdd” SO” B22” 38" 33” 343” .O7" .ogF
Span at its broadest part ......... aon” 37% 292” 30% 35” 322" 36" gar
UPI DOr GE) POEs | iscicitacstiasccaccsc lO © D4 Oy TAN PES ORs 16
Length of brow antler .,.........0..11}" | 133" 9" 133" 105” 12” 122’ 102°
* A large pair of these horns has lately been presented to this Society by Major Yule,
Burmad.
2956 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Of the above No. 2 stood 45 inches at the shoulder, the height of the others
Iwas unable to ascertain, but there seems little doubt that the Thamin stands
from 11 hands to 11°2 in height.
The following notes have been kindly supplied by a gentleman of the
A. V. D., who is also a good sportsman and has shot many.
“The Panolia eldi, Thamin Burmese, Sungrat Munipur. Brow antlered deer.
Colour.—Full-grown stag is a very dark brown about back and neck, underparts
light. The old bucks in the distance look almost black. The females are
much lighter in colour. Horns.—In the second year the males begin to get
their horns; after two years they get two tines, and at seven are said to be n
their prime, when they run to 12 or more tines, including the brow antler. The
horns are perfect in March, and are shed in September.”
“Therutting season is April and May ; the female goes with young about 64
months, and brings forth about October and November, usually one at a birth.
The young are often spotted, but this soon disappears.”
«They are very fond of the open and will not go into heavy bush jungle;
they are difficult to approach, and a long swinging trot their pace ; they can be
seen grazing in numbers in the open quins, where the kine grass has been
burnt.”
The above writer also says he considers the weight of a good stag about 200
Ibs. I should say it was considerably nearer 320 Ibs., but I have never
weighed one.
W. St. JOHN RICHARDSON, Capt.
RANGOON, LOih May, 1892.
V.—GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE PIN-TAILED SNIPE.
I notice in the last journal (No. 4, Vol. VI.) a query by Captain Richardson
as to the distribution of this snipe. The question is dealt with in Hume and
Marshall’s Game-birds, and the inference therein arrived at seems to be that
the further south you go the more plentiful are the pin-tailed snipe, and certainly
as between Guzerat and the Konkan, that is my experience. Seebhom, in his
treatise on the Charadnida, does not go into this point, but he designates India -
as the locality wherein S. stenusawas evolved from the original snipe type,
whereas he lays down Europe as the home of S. gallinago. He alludes of
course to the period of dispersion following the last but one glacial epoch.
Anyhow it would be natural if we accept his views to imagine that S. stenusa
would go further south into India.
Isee Hume seems to be ignorant of the breeding place of S. stenusa.
Seebhom of course has cleared all this up in his researches in the Arctic Circle,,
where he found them breeding above 70° latitude.
H. D. OLIVIER, Major.
AHMEDABAD District, 30th April, 1892. :
PROCEEDINGS. 257
VI.—A NEST OF KING COBRA’S EGGS.
(Naia bungarus.)
It may be of interest to some of our members to hear how I obtained the
eggs of the above deadly snake. Information was brought to me that a path
into a village situated some 5 or 4 miles from here, was closed owing to a large
and deadly snake having taken up his quarters close by the side of it. My
informant also told me that the snake had made a gadi, upon the top of which
it was sitting. This morning I went out to have a look at it, and sure enough
within two yards of the path was a heap of dried leaves and on the top of them
the snake. The head seemed to be down in the leaves, but two coils were
visible. After throwing a few stones at the heap, one of which hit the snake,
it erected its head and on seeing us distended the hood, when I fired and killed it.
The eggs, thirty-three in number, we found at the bottom of the heap. I opened
one to see the state of the embryo, which I found in an early state of develop-
ment, but still the young snake was formed and could be seen breathing.
The snake whieh I killed had a good deal more yellow on the under surface
of the head and neck than one which I shot last Sunday; it was also rather
smaller, measuring only 9 feet 8 inches. The jungles, in which the two snakes
were shot, were, I should say, 6 miles apart.
GEORGE K. WASEY.
CASTLE Rock, 22nd May, 1892.
PROCEEDINGS.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING HELD ON 5ra APRIL, 1892.
The usual monthly meeting of the members of this Society took place on Tuesday
last, the 5th April, Mr. G. W. Terry presiding.
The following gentlemen were elected members of the Society :—
Lord Dormer (England); Mr. H.R. P. Carter, C.E. (Madras); Lieutenant EH. G,
Farquharson, R.E. (Bombay); Mr. M. P. Kharegat, C.S. (Broach); Major Aberigh-
Mackay (Nowgong); The Hon’ble W. T. O’Brien (Bombay); Captain W. H. Huuter
(Nagpore) ; Dr. Esmael Jan Mahomed (Bombay) ; Lieutenant R. J. Spurrell (Nagpore); .
Mr. W. Sutherland (Bombay) ; Mr. H. Godwin-Austen (Akola) ; Dr. John Pollen, 6.8.
(Bombay); Mr. Thos. H. Storer (Oodeypore) ; Mr. Mirza Abbas Ali Baig, C.S. (Tanna);
Dr. Ratanjee Rustomjee Dadina (Kalian); Dr. Framroz Ardesir Moos (Tanna);
Mr. Maneksha Dhanjisha (Tanna) ; and Doctor G. B. Prabhakar (Bombay).
Mr. H. M. Phipson acknowledged the following contributions to the Society’s
collections :—
953 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
CONTRIBUTIONS DURING MARCH, 1892.
See eee ee eee ee
Contribution. | Description. Contributor.
—————— a ae ae eae een aETEINBIiuen CaN Cn SCUDNnU NGI cline cI TLISI= Es
1 Pair of Horns ....scse0e0e++-|RuCervus eldii........0.0...++.|Mr. A. L. Barrett.
1 Bmu’s Hye vecseeseeseesee---{Dromeeus irroratus ............,Vet. Capt. J. Mills.
1 Elephant’s Mask..... teeeses trom Ceylon wercetscrcenerteoree| Capt. Chatner:
1 Beav’s Skull ......ssecee-0e++.|MelUrSUS ULSINUS.....0ce0000 00 Do.
: Tetrodon stellatus. ......... r
2 Wish ...-..sessseeseeersveree) [Pterois miles seacsassereesee Groulh(S We tie Wonens.
1 Mongoose (alive)............/Herpestes mungo ............|Mr. George.
TL JREWATENETE,sc.050c00 noo nso degcoancd RSIS TEWECLT. 65 apden00 sseoeeeeee| Mr, Douglas Bennett.
1 Magpie Robin (alive)......|Copsychus saularis.........-..)Miss Anne Gittens.
1 Four-legged Chicken ...... from Akmedabad...............{/Mr. W. Major.
1 Snake .........s0e-.eseeeeeee|) rOpidonotus quincunctiatus|Mr. W. D. Graham.
2 pair Buffalo Horns .........]BOs bUbalus .......cosseveeseess: Mr. T. J. Campbell.
2 Chukor Partridges (alive).|Caccabis chukor ...... sooveevoe{ Mr. W. D. Cumming.
1 Lesser Brown Thrush......|Zoothera monticola...,........|Capt. H. B. Thornhill.
1 Thick-billed Flower- Piprisoma squalidum ........ Do.
pecker. :
1 Panther Cub (alive) ......|Felis pardus.........ussseeeee-{Mr. H. Godwin-Austen.
1 Lizard ............+0.+eeee+.|luygosoma lineatum .........,;Vet. Capt. J. Mills.
1 King Cobra’s Skin .........|Naga bungarus ............./Mr. H. H. Aitken.
1 Squirrel (alive) ...........,/Sciurus palmarum .......,..,|Mr. P. Benn.
1 Crocodile’s Skin ............|Crocodilus palustris .........|Mr. T. R. Fernandez,
1 Porcupine Fish ............,Diodon hystrix ...............| Mr. H. M. Slater.
155 Birds! Eggs ........0.00...J0f 42 species, from North|Mr. H. C. S. Baker.
Cachar.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.
< Wuseum Notes,” Vol. ID.., No. 5. .ccseeseeseerecreoeeesseHrom Trustees, Indian Museum,
“ Proceedings of the Royal Society of N.S. Wales,” Vol. III ............Jn Hxchange.
“ The Mammalian Game of British India’ (Jas. Murray) ............Hrom the Author.
‘¢ Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria,” Vol. II,
Part les wViol- wile seb arch ly tbeweces\-caieeicmaiiehtecrise(euisenicee oseinee-betsanteepiesee 1M ce inen HEray
“The Canadian Hntomologist,” Vol. XXIV... ..c..ccercseccessreesseseeesedn Hxchange.
ibe Moncks clag lems,” Wolk Ib, eat Wloosocsc0qungs0sq0ae0o 00d From Mon. H. Léveillé.
“ Proceedingsof the California Academy of Science,” Vol. III., Part 1......In Exchange.
“The Zoological Record,’ Vol. XXVII........0..0.00...rom Mr. W. F. Sinclair, 0.S*
“ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,” No. 4 of 1891............ln Exchange.
EXHIBITS.
Colonel W. 8S. 8S. Bisset exhibited a Vanilla plant, m flower, not usually
seen in Bombay; and a fern (Nephrolepis), one of the fronds of which had grown to
the extraordinary length of 10 ft. 4 in. ;
PROCEEDINGS. 259
THE BULBULS OF N. CACHAR.
The Honorary Secretary read the first part of a paper from the well-known Indian
ornothologist, Mr. H.C. Stuart Baker, describing the different species of bulbuls
found in his district. Sketches of the birds, with their nest, drawn by Mr. Baker,
were exhibited and will be reproduced, as illustrations to his paper, in the Society's
Journal.
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. E. C. 8S. Baker for his communication and for
his valuable contribution of birds’ eggs recently received.
PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES.
A paper on the above subject, by Mr. W.E. Hart, was read, containing an
interesting account of certain caterpillars which appear to obtain protection from
their enemies by means of their resemblance to cobras, and by the manner in which
they erect themselves and strike like snakes when alarmed.
OUR ANTS.
The Honorary Secretary also read extracts from a valuable paper, written for the
Society’s Journal, by Mr. Robert C. Wroughton, Deputy Conservator of Forests,
Poona, containing a description of the Indian ants, with observations on their “ways
‘
and means,” their nests, their domestic arrangements, and the “cattle” and “ pets”
which they keep for purposes best known to themselves.
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar read the introduction to a series of papers which he
is preparing for publication in the Society’s Journal, describing the poisonous plants
found in the Bombay Presidency. The series, which will be illustrated with
coloured plates, will, when complete, form a valuable companion to Dr. Lyon’s
well-known work on Indian Medical Jurisprudence.
The sketches of the various plants, drawn from life by Mr. Isaac Benjamin, of the
Bombay School of Art, were examined and greatly admired.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING HELD ON 3rd MAY, 1892,
The usual monthly meeting of the members took place at the Society’s Rooms on
Tuesday, the 3rd May, Mr. H. W. Buckland presiding.
The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Society :—H. H. Rear-
Admiral W. R. Kennedy (Bombay); Mr. Thomas Joseph Misquita (Madras); Mr.
Hormusjee Muncherjee Chichgar (Bombay); Mr. H. T. Pease (Poona); Mr. R. P.
Banerjee (Rajputana); Mr. W. T. Blanford (London); Mr. J. Clark, C. 8. (Assam);
Mr. BR. 8. Owen (Bombay); Mr. I. W. Bonner (Berars); and Capt. P. Z. Cox
(Kolhapore).
260
JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1899,
Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, acknowledged the following contribn-
tions :—
CONTRIBUTIONS DURING APRIL, 1892.
Contribution.
Description.
Contributor.
WiCrocodillaecscsccccesencee sins
1 Wild Dog (alive) .....0..00..
5 Pairs Cheetal Horns........
5 Pairs Sambur Horns........
5 Pairs Bison’s Horns
3 Tigers’ Skulls .....cccescares
4 Panthers’ Skulls...sccsccres
1 Wild Dog’s Skull.........00
I Tickell’s Blue Fly-Catcher
A number of fresh-water
Molluscs ...... 000
A Collection of encore ALR
8 Jerboas..
1 Snake (alive)
1 Indian Badger ...
1 Puff Adder’s Sian.
ML Dicivariemearcene sea escre sree
Dy Snake ye crccssee
Spiders and Nests ....sssse0s
1 Sarus Crane’s Heg .........
1 Bird-Hating Spider (alive)
1 Large Brown-headed
Kingfisher,
1 Wild Cat’s Skull .......0008.
2000 C00 Cee reg 008
Crocodilus palustris .........
Cyon dukhunensis .......000
(OMSK AUIS) BESS} Soonog eco noa0nc
Mr. Isaac David.
.|H. H. Maharajah Holkar.
(Mr. T. BR. D. Bell,
Cervus unicolor ......se0000. Do.
BOS) Sanus) Useesches tase hoewes Do.
HIGIINS) THIGABISS sh sa aiden uonansaon0hs Do.
Felis pe eee couche: ‘ Do,
Cyon dukhunensis ........06. Do.
Cyornis tickelli ....scsesseeees ‘Capt. H. B. Thornhill,
.|From Tanna ..
{From N. aan ‘Fills...
ea Allerc beta chi Gel nipeerenesen sale
fe | Hitayexauy OMe iieiteenteeaisselselaes
..{Mellivora indica ssssecsescceees
Clotho arietans........cs.sses-es
PLYAS MUCOSUS vrereeseereeseeres
Lycodon aulicus
See vet ees cog coe
.|From Rutnagherry ......sse.0
Gris aMtiS One ine eeecegerserte es
Mygale fasciata ....sccccceare
Pelargopsis Gurial ....cesecres
Felis chaus
..|Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.
..|Mr. B. Aitken.
..|Born in Society’s Rooms.
Col. W. S. Hore.
Do.
Do.
Mr. E. H. Elsworthy.
Mr. C. James.
Mr. H. F. Aston, C.S.
Vet.-Capt. G. Rayment.
Mr. H. B. P. Carter.
Mr, W. F. Jardine,
Seo cLannroaceocon ced Wires \Nya INS Sianeli, (CHS),
MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS.
From Mr. J, A. Betham and Mrs. Mursell.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY.
Records of the en ans ae of Hie Wolk 2-00Ye,
Part I... 500 sewleslvee|svoesess
The Useful Plants of India (Dury). sogo00000
The Journal of Comparative
Archives, Vol. XIII., No.
is
Modicine a Veterinary
8} eonves
Dee eee cee 682 000 Der Bae 208
exchange,
Ces Mr. C. Gray.
...Jn exchange.
Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta Ca From the Author.
The Vegetation of the Coco
Group (Prain)....ceresseroee
On a Botanic Visit to the South Andamans and pas
Nicobars (Prain) ..
List of Diamond iaena Plants a snecaconaas
Beasts and Man in India Cle
Animal Sketches (Morgan)........
0008 2eer50 00 Ceo Foe POR On BOR
Do.
Do.
Do.
sae H. M. Phipson.
Do.
A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION.
The Honorary Secretary drew attention to two fine pairs of Wild Buffalo horns
which had lately been received from Mr. T. J.
Campbell, Deputy Conservator of
PROCEEDINGS. 261
Forests, Assam. The horns are exceedingly massive, and one pair measures 10’ 6”
from tip to tip, outside measurement. The British India Steam Navigation Company
had very kindly brought the horns round from Caleutta, free of charge.
A CURIOUS EXHIBIT.
Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S., the Collector of Tanua, exhibited a large tiger’s skin
together with the arrows with which the animal had been killed by natives in the
Tanna District. The whole of the carcase had been withdrawn through the aperture
of the mouth, very slightly enlarged, and the entire skin had then been stuffed with
dry grass, producing a very grotesque appearance,
ALTERATION OF THE RULES.
Tn accordance with the notice given at the last meeting, the Honorary Secretary
explained that the cost of producing the Journal was now so large that the Sociaty
could not afford to sell extra copies at the rate of Re. 1-4, as laid down in Rule No. 8.
A copy ofthe Journal would still be supplied to every member free of cost and of postage
so long as he resided in India and paid the full subscription, but the selling price of
extra copies would have to be considerably increased. It was resolved that the last
sentence of Rule No. 8 should in future read as follows :—* Members shall also be
entitled to purchase back numbers of the Journal at a discount of 333 per cent.’’
THE BLACK-TAILED ROCK-CHAT.
Lientenant H. H. Barnes read a short note on the Black-tailed Rock-Chat
(Cercomela melanura). Ue stated that Jerdon’s sole authority for including this
species in his Birds of India appearsto have been that among the drawings of Sir
A. Burnes was a sketch of this bird, procured by him in Sind, but its existence there
has been doubted by Hume, who assumed that the sketch was made from a specimen
of the Red-tailed Wheat-ear. Lieutenant Barnes stated that he had found the bird
in large numbers at Aden, and that he considered it not at all unlikely that a few
specimens may occasionally wander as far east as Sind.
HORSE-BREEDING IN INDIA.
The Honorary Secretary read an important paper on’the above subject by Veterinary
Captain G. Rayment, A. V. D.
“
~
Hombay atural History Soricty.
LIST OF OFFICE-BEARERS.
Presidente
H. E. the Right Honorable Lorp Harris.
Vice- Presidents.
Dr. D. MacDonald, m.p., 8.8.¢., ¢.M.
The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Bidenod M.A., LL.M. (Cantab.).
Dr. G. A, Maconachie, M.p., 0.M.
How. Secretary.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.™.z.8.
How. Crensurer.
Mr, Andrew Murray.
Editor.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.m.z.s.
Managing Committee.
The Hon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood. | Mr. W. F. Sinclair, c.s.
Dr. G. A. Maconachie. Mrs. W. EK. Hart.
» Dr. D. MacDonald. Col. W. S. Bisset, R.E.
Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s. Lieut. H. E. Barnes.
Rev. F. Dreckmann, s.J. Mr. J. C. Anderson.
Dr, T. 8. Weir. Mr. E. L. Barton.
Dr. Kirtikar. Mr. Reginald Gilbert.
Mr. J. D. Inverarity. Mr, R. M. Branson.
Mr. W. S. Millard. — Mr. N. 8. Symons.
Mr. Andrew Murray, ev-offcio.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, ev-officto.
Ist Section.—(Mammals and Birds.)
President —Mr. J. D. Inverarity.
_ Secretary —Lieut. H. KE. Barnes.
2nd Section.—(Leptiles and Fishes. )
- President—Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s.
Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.m.z.s,
8rd Section.—( Insects.)
- President—Mr. L. de Nicéville, F.2.s., 0.M.z.9.
Secretary—Mr. EH. H. Aitken.
4th Section.—(Other Invertebrata.)
B eaitont~—Dr-. G. A. Maconachie, m.D., c.M.
ey Mr. J. C. Andersen.
5th Section.—( Botany.)
G President—The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, .a., LL.M. (Cantab.).
ie eey—Surgeon- -Major K, R. Kirtikar, F.s.m. (Fr ance), M.R.C.S.
— JOURNAL
—
eos? OP pai
‘EDITED BY.
* its
H. M. PHIPSON,
2 a
Honorary Secretary.
IID IVS
; >
. apes Se SpaBes 1
WITH THREE ILLUSTRATIONS.
“8
RAR ARAL RAR NAR
~ .
Moe 8—VOL, “Wil.
Bombay;
tee | PRIMED AT THE
-- EDUCATION SUCIELrY’S PRESS,
1892- . 3
ie
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER, eee
we ’ 5 ee
‘ i ‘Tue Butsuts or Norra CACHAR. i E. C, Stuart Baker. Part
(CW tin Plabe) eo tee agence cbc 1a tale gine, Oo ee
: MANDER R. F. “Hosexx, R. =. Cnrenei Series 1, No. 5 . ig ;
eee By DRRay cece the ee cen 268
REPORT UPON A SMALL Ga hee OF SnaeaNe SENT TO THE a9
Brirish Mussum py Mr. Epgar Tuurston, oF THE Go-
re VERNMENT CxenTRAL Musnum, Mapras. By R. I. Pocock, oe
es ae of the British Museum (Nat. Hist. Dept.) .............. ae Be
THE Poisonous PLANTS OF Bombay. By Surgeon- fe K Ry
Kirtikar, i. M.S, Part 11, (Wath Plate Dy 2): <-acteeneeeee "319 |
- Description oF 4 New Toap From Travancore. By G. A. Bou-—
LENGER -....:. Cee ee tO Oc awe shee Tere SO er cece DO reese Bsr vensareO® eecetsossen=
' Description oF A NEw EArtTH-SNAKE FROM TRAVANCORE, Bye
GA. Boovencun.~.2 6520S 2355. Oe ee
ante Notes on a New Species of WreN Founp In ceaee Cacuar,
Bean Ae AssaM. By H.C. Sruarr Baxur.. (With 1 Plate) ..25 eee 819
On New Aanp LItTLe-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES FROM THE INDO- Maayan —
Region. By Litonen DE Nice’ VILLE, F.E.S., C.M.ZS., ce :
(With Plates H, I,and J. which will appear in a subsequent Number). 02
Bompay Grasses. By Dr. J. C. LISBOA, E-LS,, Part V. ae
or List oF Birps’ Eeces. Bay eeicd to the Society by Mr. E. e Ss. eg
ae! 2 ‘Baker, of North Cachar; Aweust 1892 oir.2 ate, ae eee 390
See
ae 2 REVIEW waiciginie bigesle'sit eitiewalsicin calves waleis = ee Be 391
. MiscELLANEOUS NoTES — eb ess
1.—Nest and Eggs of the Crested Black Kite ........ seseraneeng 403
Curious tumour on a Black Buck... ;-. 2.0: 2. ..sueseneeee - 405
3,—Does a Tiger kul Snakes 672,08 & S05: oy ea 405
eee 4,—A Bear with three Cubs ee an
aes © SA Rave Snake sesseessseeteneitens stectee tte cece oe . 406
6.—A Panther eating a Panther << .csGeue dies iota eee 407
PROCEEDINGS oer tee im re eae he Mts onaneestewe “BRO OCr eet ease=, ae seer eevee serde-coseve 408
Journ : Bombay Nat Hist.Soc.
Mintern Bros. Chrome lith, London.
E,C.S.Baker del.
THE BENGAL RED-WHISKERED BULBUL.
(Otocompsa emeria).
JOURNAL
OF THE
BO VES AL
Aatumal History Society,
No. 3.] BOMBAY, 1892. [Vol. VII.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR.
By E. C. Sruarr-Baker.
Part III.
(With 1 Plate. )
( Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on
29th November, 1892).
OTOCEMPSA EMERIA,
Tue BrencAL RED-WHISKERED BuULBUL.
Jerdon’s “B. of I.,” Vol. II., p. 92; Oates’ “ Avifauna of B. I.,”
Vol. L, p. 228; id., Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs,” Vol. I., p. 178;
id., “B.B.B.,” Vol. I., p. 198; Murray’s “ Avifauna of B. I.,’
Vol. II., p. 44.
Description.—Forehead, crown and lores black; hinder part of
cheeks and ear-coverts white surrounded with black; a tuft of
crimson-scarlet feathers under the eye and extending over the lower
ear-coverts. Lower plumage white, pure on the chin and throat, and
suffused with fulvous-brown on the flanks and thighs, under tail-coverts
crimson ; a broad band across the breast, more or less broken in the
centre, dark brown; whole upper plumage, wings, and tail brown,
the feathers of the wing margined paler, and the tail having all
35
264 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
but the centre pair tipped with fulvous-white, purest on the outer
feathers.
Length 7:8 in. ; wing 3°d in,; tail 3°5 in.; tarsus ‘78 in. ; bill at
front °6 in. ; and from gape °85 in.
The typical bird of North Cachar does not have the ear-coverts as
dark a crimson as those of Manipur and further East, but many birds
are met with these plumes of quite as dark a colour as any Burmese
birds. Again, I find here that most birds have all but the centre
tail feathers tipped with whitish, those with only four pairs so tipped
being only about one to six of the others.
Nivirication.—It is quite impossible for me to add anything of
importance to the accounts already given of the nesting of this
well-known bird, and I therefore merely note a few details about
some abnormal clutches of eggs.
The most remarkable egg I have is one with a pale purplish-white
ground and densely freckled with rather pale neutral tint, these
frecklings forming a very distinct ring round the larger end. I
have an egg of Molpastes burmanicus, which is quite undistinguish-
able from this one and might have been laid in the same clutch.
Another queer clutch has the ground-colour, which is a pale salmon,
almost entirely concealed by bold blotches of deep reddish-brown,
and another is marked just the same with pinkish-brown.
A fourth clutch resembles very closely the eggs of the genus
Serilophus, the egg itself being white and the markings consist of
tiny specks of inky black and lavender, sparsely scattered over
the larger end and almost absent elsewhere.
Avery common type of egg here is one with a pale salmon or
pink ground rather boldly marked with blotches and spots of different
- shades of red.
I once got this bird’s nest in a most unusual place, the very centre
of a field of grass, not in a bush or even in a clump of grass but
right on the ground among the roots of some grass rather coarser
than that surrounding it. These birds often build in my garden, and
I notice that long after the young are fully fledged,they return every
night to roostin the nest. They breed up to 4,000 ft., and are .
sometimes found on the highest peaks, but they are most common
below 2,500. In the cold weather they assemble in immense’ flocks
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 265
in company with Molpastes burmanicus and bengalensis, and the
chattering and noise made by these flocks is very great—each bird
seems to consider it necessary to hold forth on some subject, and no
bird considers it right to pose as an auditor only, I have often
seen them feeding on the ground, and on a few occasions I have
observed them capturing White Ants on the wing.
Lhave found nests at all times from March until the end of
September ; on one occasion I found five eggs in a nest.
HyPsIPETES PSAROIDES,
HIMALAYAN Brack Butsut.
Jerdon’s “ B. of I,” No. 444, Vol. IL., p. 77; Oates’ “B. B. B.,”
No. 165, Vol. I., p. 173; id., ‘‘Avifauna of B.I.,” Vol. L., p. 259;
Hume’s “Nests and Eggs,” Vol. I., p. 164; Murray’s “ Avifauna
oh. T.,”” Vol. if, p- 18.
Descriprion.—Forehead, crown with full short crest, lores, base
of lower mandible and extreme angle of chin black ; an irregular
patch below the ear-coverts, sometimes extending behind them and
meeting the black of the crest, also black; ear-coverts light grey,
sometimes slightly rufescent; remainder of upper plumage grey,
darkest on the shoulders and lightest on the upper tail-coverts; the
shoulders and scapularies are frequently tinged with brown in
the centre of the feathers ; visible parts of the wing the same colour
as the back, the inner webs and invisible part of the outer webs of
the quills brown ; tail dark brown, narrowly edged with grey, on all
but the outermost pair, for about seven-cighths of their length.
Lower plumage grey, darkest on the throat and lightest on the
abdomen ;in the new plumage the feathers are very narrowly
edged with white, giving the belly an albescent appearance; under
tail-coverts dark grey with very broad white margins. Shafts
of feathers above black’; below light grey. Irides dark hazel; bill
and feet coral red.
Male—Uength 10°5 in.; tail 46 in.; wing 5'1 in.; tarsus ‘7 in. ;
bill at front -85 in. and from gape 1:2 in.
Female—Length 9°5 in. or rather less ; tail 4°2 in. ; wing 4°8 in.;
other dimensions almost the same as in the male,
266 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Niprrication.—The nest is a true bulbul’s in shape and general
appearance. Four nests taken during June 1890 shew the differences
of construction and material very well.
No. 1, taken on the first of June, was made principally of dead
bamboo leaves, bound round about with fine stalks of weeds and a
little bark, with here and there a tiny twig. These are all firmly
fastened together with cobwebs. The lining is of coarse grass stems
and fine bents. The nest is fairly neat, and all the leaves are kept
in their places by the other materials. The internal dimensions are,
diameter 3”, depth 1-1’.
The second nest is made entirely of stalks, small twigs and coarse
grasses, lined with finer materials of the same kind. This nest, if
held up to the light, can be seen through in places everywhere. It
is rather larger than the last, the diameter being 3°3”; the depth is
just the same. }
No. 3 is exactly like No.2 as regards materials, with the
exception that there are two dead leaves in the base work, but it is
much deeper. In diameter it is barely 3”, whilst in depth it is fully
1:6”, This is an unusually deep nest.
No. 4 is the most massive nest of all, and is composed of leaves,
moss, grass and stalks, strongly though untidily intertwined, and
still further secured by numerous cobwebs. ‘The lining is very
scanty, consisting of hardly a dozen fine grass stems and a couple
of coarse, soft stalks. Itis less than an inch deep, and is 3:2” in
diameter internally ; externally it is 4:9” by a little over 2".
In 1887 I took a nest of this bird which was lined with a small
amount of sambhar hair. This shewed plainly by its appearance
that it had been collected from the dried exeretz of a feline, and a
short search discovered that the builder had got it from the roadside,
about twenty yards from her nest. Another taken in 1888 was lined
with buffalo hair, These are the only two, out of some twenty-five
which I have taken, lined with anything but a little grass ‘or some
similar material. ;
Most nests are placed at a good height from the ground, somewhere
between twenty-five and forty feet from it, but I have also taken
them from much lower positions, and sometimes even from low bushes
not above five feet up. They may be placed either in a horizontal
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 267
or upright fork, generally the former. Very little of the material
is wound round the supporting branches, but a good many cobwebs
are always used in order to render it sufficiently safe. It is generally
built in fairly open country or the outskirts of forests, but I have
taken one or two nests from deep jungle.
The normal number of eggs is three, often only two, and four is
quite exceptional. In coloration they are merely enlarged facsimiles
of many eggs of P. pyacus. The ground-colour ranges from dead
white to a very faint cream,a few, very few, eggs being rather
darkish cream. The markings consist of numerous small blotches,
spots and specks of different shades of reddish-brown and purple-
brown; in some eggs one tint prevails, in others another colour.
The secondary markings are of pale inky and pale purplish or
lavender. In about four eggs in seven the markings are numerous
everywhere, becoming more so towards the larger end; in a few
they are nearly all crowded together there, forming a cap or zone,
sparsely scattered elsewhere. In one or two clutches the superior
spots are very few and the inferior, lavender ones, particularly
numerous, giving the eggs a very grey tint. I have one handsome
elutch in which both primary and secondary markings are few in
number, and consist of rather bold dark blotches, forming a deep ring
round the larger half.
There are two typical shapes—first and commonest, a regular
rather broad oval, and secondly a long pointed oval, considerably
drawn out towards the smaller end. Nine-tenths of my eggs are
referable to one or the other type, the rest being either extermediate
or exaggerated forms of these. They breed throughout May, June,
and early July, a few as early as April, and very few late in July
and early August. June is the principal month.
The average of thirty-two eggs is 1:05" X ‘77"
This bird is most common on the West and South of the hills,
towards the East it is in a great measure replaced by H. concolor.
Both birds are, however, found in this direction everywhere
between 2,000 feet and the highest peaks of about 7,000 feet. They
do not breed below 2,500 feet, though they may be found in the
plains until late in April, when the last few birds retire into the
more mountainous parts. During the cold season single birds are
268 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
never seen, and even in June, July and August I have noticed them
in small flocks; perhaps in these cases they consisted of unmated
males alone. The individuals of the flock often keep much scattered,
occupying amongst them some six toa dozen trees, where they
feed high up in the topmost boughs. In alighting on a tree they
nearly always alight near the summit, thence making their way
lower, if necessary. They have a great range of notes, the majority
of them, and those principally used, being very loud and harsh.
Their most musical note is a loud mellow whistle which is sometimes
extended and subdued into a short warbling song. They seem but
seldom to use either this call or the song; most frequently each
member is heard calling loudly in avery harsh vibrating note, which is
constantly repeated both perching and flying. It is one of the
noisiest of bulbuls, and, unlike most, does not become more silent
during the breeding season.
It is rather a shy bird, and, if a person approaches too near it,
flies off, uttering its warning note to the others, who quickly follow.
It prefers open country, and especially scattered tree forest with
but little undergrowth, except low scrub and grass. I have also
seen it during the breeding season haunting high scrub jungle with
afew dwarfed trees growing here and there. This was ata place
about 6,500 feet high, and it was also here that I found them
breeding in high bushes and scrub. Its flight is stronger and
quicker than that of any other bulbul I know. They often, when
flying overhead in company, make playful swoops at one another,
and, not infrequently, two or three birds will join in a sort of
follow-my-leader kind of game on the wing.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES, sre NATURAL
HISTORY NOTES FROM H. M. I. M. SURVEY
STEAMER “INVESTIGATOR,” Commanper
R. F. HOSKYN, R.N., COMMANDING.
Series II., No.5. By D. Prain.
INTRODUCTION.
Tue Laccadive Archipelago is situated at the south-eastern
angle of the Arabian Sea, between Lat. 10° and 14° N. and Lon.
71° 40’ and 74° E., and is composed of 16 or 17 small coral islands,
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 269
the most easterly of which lies 120 miles to the westward of the
Malabar Coast, while the most southerly is about the same distance
to the north of the Maldive Archipelago. Between the Laccadive
and the Maldive Archipelagos lies the island of Minikoi in Lat. 8°30’
N., and Lon. 72° 40’ H. This islandis sometimes spoken of as being
one of the Maldives, owing to the fact of its beimg rather nearer to
that Archipelago than to the Laccadives, and because its population
is Maldive in language and in manners; usually, however, it is
treated, as it will be in this paper, as a Laccadive Island, because its
political allegiance has always, within historical times, been with the
latter group. In reality, however, it cannot be precisely looked on
as a member of either group, though being one of the atoll-crowned
submarine peaks characteristic of the two archipelagos, it is clearly
a link in the chain to which both belong. It was at one time
supposed that the atolls of this chain were situated on a bank
separated from the nearest mainland (the coast of Malabar) by
an ocean trough.* ‘This is now found to be incorrect, and the
islands form in reality ‘‘a chain of peaks rising from a bed of 1,100
“fathoms, or are in themselves 6,600 feet above the bottom,
“a height somewhat similar to that of the Western Ghats in those
* latitudes.” + .
The chief references to the Laccadive Archipelago are enume-
rated below :—
W. Hamilton.—Article “ Laccadives,” in East Jndia Gazetteer
[1815]: a very brief notice of the group.
J. Wood.—Extract from Lieut. Wood’s Private Journal regard-
ing the Lakeradeevh Archipelago, in Journ. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,
vol. vi. [1836]: contains a full account of Anderut, and gives in-
formation concerning the other members of the group obtained
from enquiries made by Lieut. Wood when in Anderut.
W. Robinson.— Description of the Laccadive Islands, in Madras
Journ. of Literature and Science, nu. s., vol. xiv. [1847]: contains
full accounts of the British Islands of the Archipelago, and is pre-
ceded by an interesting and valuable historical preface, unfortunately
* Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 459.
+ Carpenter, “Administration Reports of the Marine Survey of India,” year
1887-88, p. 7; year 1888-89, p. 6. :
210 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
unsigned, drawn up by a member of the Madras Society’s Hditorial
Committee.
A. O. Hume.—The Laccadives and the West Coast, in Stray
Feathers, vol. iv., [1876]: an excellent account of the reefs and
islands visited by Mr. Hume.
W. W. Hunter.—Article “ Laccadives,” in Imp. Gazetteer of
India, ed. ii., vol. vii. [1886]: a somewhat inexact digest of pre-
vious notices based chiefly, however, on that by Mr. (afterwards
Sir William) Robinson.
Administration Reports of the Marine ae of India, 1887-8,
1888-9, 1889-90, 1890-1, 1891-2, Topographical and hydrographical
notices by Commander Carpenter, R. N., and Commander
Hoskyn, R. N., with biological notices by Surg. Alcock,
I.M.S.
J. Shortt.—Monograph of the Cocoanut Palm [1888] : describes
(p. 16) the process of coir-manufacture in the Laccadives.
G. Watt.—Article “Cocos nucifera,’ in Dict. Econ. Prod. of
India, vol. ii. [1889]: describes the Laccadive coco-nut and coir
trade.
D. Prain.—A list of Laccadive Plants, in Sc. Mem. by Medical
’ Officers of the Army of India, part v. [1890]; E. Roth, in Engler,
Bot. Jahré., vol. xii. [1890]; W. B. Hemsley, in Nature,
vol, xlii. [1890].
On studying a chart of the Archipelago we find that the atolls
are arranged in three lines, as if there were three chains of peaks,
a western rather irregular chain, corresponding roughly to the meri-
dian of Lon. 72° E., containing from north to south the reefs or
islands of Cherbaniani, Cheriapani, Bitrapar, Pirmalpar, Akati, and
Suhelipar, with, at the extreme north, the sunken bank of Koradivh ;
a central, corresponding roughly to the meridian of Lon. 72° 45’ E.,
containing from north to south the islands of Chitlac, Kiltan,
Kadamum, Améni and Koréti with the Piti sandbank between the
two latter,and with, at the extreme north, the sunken Bassas de Pedro
bank ; and an eastern, corresponding to Lon. 73° 40° E., containing
the islands of Anderut and Kalpéni, with, to the north-east of these,
the sunken Hlikalpéni bank: Minikoi, it will be seen, corresponds
as to position with’ the central chain of peaks. The parallel of
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 271
Lat. 11° N. conveniently separates the Archipelago into two groups;
the northern, containing the inhabited islands of Chitlac, Kiltan,
Kadamum, and Améni with the uninhabited island of Bitra and the
open reefs of ‘Pirmalpar, Cheriapani and Cherbaniani, which are
attached to the administrative district of South Kanara, and thus
owe direct allegiance to British India; and the southern, contain-
ing the inhabited islands of Minikoi, Kalpéni, Anderut, Korati and
Akati, with the three uninhabited islands of Suheli(on the Suhelipar
reef), and Bangéro and Tangaro (on the reef on which Akati is
situated), which belong to the Bibi of Cannanore, and thus only
indirectly acknowledge British suzerainty.* It will be observed
that only one of the atolls of the western chain—that on which
Akati stands—has an inhabited island, whereas of the other two the
only one without an inhabited island is the Piti sandbank, which,
however, is of a somewhat different nature from the other atolls men-
tioned, being in reality a sunken bank of the same type as Koradivh
and Hlikalpéni.
The earliest topographical account of any of the islands is a
description of the Cannanore island of Anderut} by Lieut. Wood,
who visited it in December, 1834, and who, from enquiries
made in this one, drew up a table in which the names of all the
islands, with their condition as to population and vegetation, are
shown. A chart of the group had, however, already been prepared
from a survey by Lieut. Moresby in 1828. The group was more
fully described by Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Robinson, of the
Madras Civil Service, who in 1844 and 1845 visited the inhabited
islands directly under British rule, and made enquiries of the people
of Améni, Kadamum, Kiltain, and Chitlac regarding the condition of
Bitrapar and of the inhabited islands belonging to the Cannanore
* Since, however, the people of Minikoi do thus acknowledge themselves Indian
subjects, and since, except for the accident of population, the island has no greater
claim to be considered a member of the Maldive than of the Laccadive group, it is
better to deal with Minikoi along with the Laccadives, which are patently Indian
islands, than along with the Maldives, which acknowledge the suzerainty of
Ceylon.
+ Extract from Lieut. Wood’s private Journal regarding the Lakeradeevh Archi-
pelago; ‘ Journ. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,” vol. vi., p. 29-33 (1836).
{ A reduced reproduction of this chart is given in “ Madr. Journ. of Lit. and Sc.,”
vol. xiv., plate 16 (1847).
36
272 .JCURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Raj. Mr. Robinson’s account * had prefixed to it bythe Hditorial
Committee of the Madras Literary Society an admirable digest of
the history of the islands down to 1845, and this preface, with the
paper that follows it, has been made the basis of the official account
of the group.t From the time of Mr. Robinson’s visit till 1876
no account of the islands had been published, though in 1875
they were visited by Dr. Shortt.t Mr. Hume in 1875 paid a visit to
the Archipelago, his object being mainly an ornithological survey,
but with characteristic energy he made a botanical collection in some
of the islands visited by him, and refers to the species that he col-
lected or observed in his account of this visit.§ A series of scientific
visits have recently been paid to this group by H. M. I. M. Inves-
tigator. In October, 1887, Chitlac was visited, but no botanical col-
lecting was done.|| Again in May, 1889, Anderut and Kiltan were
visited, and collections of botanical specimens were made by Dr.
* “ Description of the Laccadive Islands,’ by W. Robinson, Esq., of the Civil
Service; “‘ Madras Journ. of Lit. and Science,”’ vol. xiv., pp. 5-46 (1847).
+ “Imperial Gazetteer of India,” ed. ii., vol. viii., pp. 392-896 (1886). Much of this
article isa paraphrase of Mr. Robinson’s account, many sentences being taken
verbatim, though without acknowledgment, from the Madras Journal. The compiler
accredits to Mr. Robinson one passage in the paragraph on population ; this passage,
though enclosed within quotation commas, differs rather more than many of the
unacknowledged sentences. The paper by Mr. Robinson. being essentially “ official,”
the writer of the Gazetteer may not have been technically bound to acknowledge the
source of his information; this can hardly, however, apply tothe editorial preface,
which is appropriated without remark. In doing so the “ Gazetteer’? somewhat
inexactly speaks of Kalpéni as the ‘‘‘ Kaluftee’ of Ibn Batuta,” although the writer
of the paraphrased digest has been careful to say that “no distinct mention of the
Laccadives occurs in Ibn Batuta” (“ Madras Journ.,” xiv. 2), and as carefully indicates
that the passage in which Kaluftee is given as the name of one of the principal
inhabited Laccadive Islands occurs in the Tohfat-al-Mujahidin (“Madras Journ.,” xiv.3).
The identification of Kaluftee with Kalpéni is altogether arbitrary; it is quite as
likely that Korati is intended.
+ Shortt; Monograph of the Cocoanut Palm; or, Cocos nucifera, p. 16 (Madras,
1888).
§ Hume, “ The Laccadives and the West Coast”; “ Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., pp. 418,
460 (1876).
|| Carpenter, “Administration Report of the Marine Survey of India,” year
1887-88, p. 7.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 273
Alcock, Surgeon-Naturalist to the Marine Survey ;* these collections
were described in a preliminary notice of the Flora of the group by
the writer.; In November, 1889, the Investigator visited Kal-
péni{ and Dr. Alcock again made a collection of the plants. Finally,
in November and December, 1891, the vessel re-visited Kiltén,
and visited Kadamum and Bitrapar, whence Mr. Hume had already
sent specimens, as wellas Akati and Minikoi, two islands from which
specimens had not previously been obtained.§ During these 1891
visits, Dr. Alcock and his assistant, Mr. Fleming, Apothecary on the
Investigator, collected most assiduously the plants that were met
with, Mr. Fleming at the same time preparing a list of the species
under cultivation in the four inhabited islands visited.
All the islands of the group are typical coral-islands, situated on
atoll-rings, of which each forms but a small portion, generally on
the eastern or leeward aspect of their respective reefs; Anderut,
however, is situated on the windward side, the reef being to
leeward instead of to windward||, while Akati and its two little
satellite islands, Bangaro and Tangaro, are inside a huge lagoon,
formed by a separate barrier-reef.4{ Three of the atolls are
mere open-reefs. The first of these is the Cherbaniani (called
also the Beliapani) reef, situated at the extreme north-west
corner of the Archipelago in Lon. 71° 55’ H. and Lat. 12° 20’ N.,
minutely described by Mr. Hume** as a long oval atoll, 6 miles in
length by 27 miles across, the reef consisting of an almost unbroken
line about 200 yardsin width, just submerged at high-tide and more
or less dry at low-water, with two narrow shallow channels through it
on the eastern and one on the western side; in three places, at
the extreme north, the extreme south, and about the middle of the
eastern side are piled-up masses of coral débris forming islets even
* Alcock in Hoskyn, “ Administration Report of the Marine Survey of India,” year
1889-90, p. 18.
+ Prain, “ A List of Laccadive Plants’’; “ Scientific Mem. by Medical Officers of the
Army of India,” pt. v., pp. 47-70 (1889).
{ Hoskyn, “ Administration Report of the Marine Survey of India,” 1889-90, p. 5.
§ Gunn, “ Administration Report of the Marine Survey of India,” 1891-92, p. 3.
|| Wood, ‘‘ Journ. of the Roy. Geogr. Soc.,” vol. vi. p. 30.
{| Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 439.
** “Stray Feathers,” vol, iv., p. 428, with map.
974. JOURNAL, LOMLEAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
at high-water. There is no trace of vegetation on any of these tiny
islets, the largest of which, that at the northern extremity, is about
200 yards long and about 50 yards across, its highest point not
being more than 7 feet above high-water. The lagoon within this
reef carries from 3 to 35 fathoms at its deepest portion, shallowingto
the reef all round.
This reef is apparently not included in Lieut. Wood’s list;* his
No. 10 ('Tétacum) may indeed refer either to this or to Pirmalla, but
cannot include both, and probably indicates the latter. If, however,
this should be what is meant by his Tatécum, then the statement that
it produces coco-nuts made to him at Anderut, is incorrect. Im-
mediately to the south of Cherbaniani in Lon. 71°50'H. arid Lat. 11°50’
N. les the Cheriapani reef (Sheréah of Wood’s list), called also the
Byramgore reef, owing to the wreck there in 1827 of a Bombay
vessel of that name. This is shown in the charts as completely
submerged at high-water, but from what Mr. Hume was able to
ascertain at Améni regarding it, this appears to have several
islets like those on the Cherbaniani reef. The statement of the
islanders of Anderut to Lieut. Wood, that it produces coco-nuts and
is visited on that account, is doubtless incorrect; if visited at all
it must be for birds’ eges, or for the purpose of fishing in the lagoon.
South-east of the Byramgore reef in Lon. 72°10'H. and Lat.
11°30'N. lies Bitrapar, visited by Mr. Hume in 1875. Mr. Robin-
son had already given an account of the island.t This reef forms
_alarge very regular oval 7 to 8 mileslong and 4 to 5 miles acrossat the
widest part. The island of Bitra, which is the only part of the
atoll above high-water mark, occupies the north-east corner, and
is about half-a-mile long and a quarter of a mile across, being
nowhere more than 9 or 10 feetabove high-water level. The lagoon
is shallow at the north end and along the western side, but carries
elsewhere 3 to 6 fathoms. The island itself is not, like the islets on
2
* “Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soce.,” vol. vi., p. 39.
+ Mr. Hume speaks inadvertently (“Stray Feathers,” iv., p. 485) of Mr. Robinson
having visited this island. Mr. Robinson says (“Madras Journ.,” xiv., p. 27) that
he was unable to visit it himself, though he obtained all the particulars he could
concerning it. Mr. Hume’s own account is, therefore, the first description of the
island that has been made from personal observation.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 270
Cherbaniani, a mere pile of coral blocks,* but exhibits the structure
characteristic of the larger formed-islands of the ‘group; that
is to say, it consists of a soil of coral-sand mixed with a
greater or less amount of humus derived from decaying vegetation,
this soil overlying a friable calcareous rock with a coarse oolitic
structure, one foot to eighteen inches thick, beneath which is found
a loose wet sand from whence, if the crust be broken through, and
a few spadefuls of it be removed, water percolates and accumulates
in the hollow so formed.t In Bitra, however, though the overlying
soil is said to be excellent and the coco-nut grows luxuriantly, it is
impossible for the people to occupy the island permanently because
the water which accumulates in the wells made by sinking short
shafts through this coral crust, in place of being fresh and drinkable,
as in the inhabited islands, is so salt that the fishermen who visit the
place, when they run short of water, dig a hole in the sand near the
sea and drink the brackish percolations thus obtained in preference
to the well-water.t The island is sacred to a Pi whose tomb,
Mr. Robinson was told, has about 200 coco-nut trees planted round
it as votive offerings to hisname. Mr. Hume speaks of the coco-nut
trees but does not mention the tomb. It stands, Dr. Alcock informs
the writer, near the north end of the island in the middle of the
Coco-nut grove, surrounded also by patches of one of the Tulsi
plants. An indication that the island is often visited is the presence
in the Investigator collection of specimens of Ricinus communis
which is frequent as a weed. Besides the Castor-Oil, the Twis’, and
the Coco-nut, the collections of Mr. Hume and Dr. Alcock contain
16 species, all but three of which are undoubtedly plants of the
littoral, sea-introduced class. It is important to note that the
Coco-nut does not occur in a fringe round the coast as would probably
be the case were that species here introduced by the sea; besides
their being confined to the middle of the island we have the express
statement of the islanders to Mr. Robinson that the trees were
deliberately planted during their fishing and egg-collecting visits.
* Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 431.
+ Robinson, “ Madras Journal of Lit. and Science,” vol. xiv., p. 7; Alcock in
Hoskyn, ‘‘ Marine Survey Report,” 1889-90, p. 12.
{ Robinson, “ Madr. Journ.” vol. xiv., p. 27.
276 JOURNAL, BUMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
The most interesting species on the island is Pisonia alba, here
clearly sea-introduced, which has not been reported from any other
member of the group, and has never indeed been found growing
undoubtedly wild either in India or in Ceylon.
To the south and a little west of Bitrapar, in Lon. 72° H. and Lat.
11° 10’ N., is situated the third open reef of Pirmalpar which has
been visited by Mr. Hume, who describes it * as a huge triangular
atoll with oaly one small bank, at the north-east corner, about 200
yards long and 50 yards across, uncovered at high water but with
the greater portion of the reef visible at low tide. The islet—which
derives its name of Pirmalla from a tradition of the people that their
ancestors, the original settlers in the archipelago, formed part of an
expedition which set out from Malayala (the Malabar coast) for
Mecca in search of their apostate King Barman Pirmal, but was
wrecked in these islandst—is not composed, like those on the Cher-
baniani reef, of accumulations of coral débris, but is a bare, smooth,
wind-swept sand-bank absolutely devoid of any vegetation.t It is
therefore clear that, whether the Tatacwm of Lieut. Wood’s list
refers to this reef or to Cherbaniani, the islanders misinformed him
when they assured him that it produced coco-nuts. Perhaps, how-
ever, the people of Anderut, who probably do not themselves visit
this reef, seeing this is a British and not a Cannanore possession,
only knew that the island was visited periodically, without being
aware whether the visits were paid in order to obtain coco-nuts or
merely for fishing and egg-collecting.
South-east of Pirmalpar between Lon. 72° 10’ and 72° 20’ BH. and
between Lat. 10° 50’ and 10° 57 N. lies the large atoll of Akati, the
most westerly of the inhabited islands and the only inhabited island
of the western chain of peaks. This atoll, which encloses a large
lagoon inside which vessels of some size find an anchorage, was
visited in 1875 by Mr. Hume, who describes the reef as somewhat
“€ shoulder-of-mutton ”’ shaped, the knuckle to the south-west with
Akati itself in the middle of the knuckle, and with two small un-
inhabited islands, Bangéro and Tangaro, towards the edge of the
* « Stray Feathers,’ vol. iv., p. 450.
+ Robinson, “ Madr. Journ.,” vol. xiv., p. 8.
t+ Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 451.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 277
blade at the north-east corner, The barrier reef is high and
strongly marked on the north, north-east and more than half the
eastern side, where, Mr. Hume thinks, there are some points bare
at high water ; elsewhere it is much lower, a considerable portion
being covered even at low tide, and being pierced by deep ship-
channels in several places.* Mr. Hume also mentions a sandbank
which is devoid of vegetation; this is probably the Akati Féti
(No. 17) of Wood’s list. Mr. Hume landed on Bangaro (Bangaram,
Wood) which he describes as ‘‘a mass of vegetation down to the
“ water’s edge, dense with cocoanuts above and screw pines below,”
the undergrowth being also very dense; the plants growing with
a luxuriance that “‘contrasted strongly with the geverally-stunted
“orowth of the same species on Betrapar.” The plants that
Mr. Hume collected were mainly those he had not already obtained
or noted in Bitrapar ; the specimens belong to 10 species, all save
one of which (Setaria verticillata) might have been introduced by the
sea. The interior of the island was found to be an almost impene-
trable thicket, largely composed of Caesalpinia Bonduceila bushes.t
This account of the zone of coco-nuts points clearly to their having
been here introduced by the sea.
Tangaro (Tenakerry, Wood), the other minor island on the reef,
was also visited by Mr. Hume, who describes it as less wooded than
Bangaro ; he did not collect any specimens. According to Lieut.
Wood’s table this, like the last, is visited on account of its
coconuts, which is doubtless correct.
On Akatiitself Mr. Hume was unable to land, but it was visited in
1891 by Dr. Alcock and Mr. Fleming. The plants collected—which
include 32 weeds of cultivation or garden-escapes, and 13 sea-shore
species, with only one plant (Tylophora asthmatica) that may be a
wind-introduced species—show that there is no truejungle, but that
the whole of the island is under cultivation. Mr. Fleming’s list of
cultivated species includes Calophyllum inophyllum (of which there
is but one tree, planted) ; Thespesia populnea (planted, but also
occurring wild); Sesbania grandiflora (planted to support the Pepper-
* Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., 451.
+ Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., 452.
278 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
vine); the Tamarind; the Pomegranate (about half-a-dozen plants
bearing good fruit); the Papaya; the Sweet-Potato (only one
small plot); the Bird’s-eye Chillie (only ina ‘wild’ condition) ;
Datura (which occurs pretty frequently, but also only ina ‘ wild’
condition); Mirabilis Jalapa; the Pepper-vine (an object of great
care) ; the Bread-fruit (only one tree, in a garden) ; T'aeca pinnatafida
(cultivated only); Colocasia antiquorum (only in a ‘ wild’ condition).
Mr. Fleming’s list omits the Supari (A7eca catechu) ; from a similar
list for Kiltén, where it does occur, itis also omitted, perhaps there-
fore the omission here is only an oversight. The island is covered
with Coco-nut palms and there are several large fresh-water tanks,
paved and terraced and walled with slabs of coral-volite ; in these
occurs the universal water-weed Chara.*
Due south of Akati, in Lon. 72° 12’ E. and Lat. 10° N., lies the
Suhelipar reef which is shown on Lieut. Moresby’s Chart as an oval
atoll with an opening in the reef at the north-end and with the
uninhabited island of Suheli ‘(Soilee, Wood) near the centre of its
south-eastern side. According to lieut. Wood’s list, this island
is visited on account of its coco-nuts, but no topographical account
of the atoll being available, it is impossible to say with certainty
whether Suheli is a sand-bank like Pirmalla, an accumulation of
coral debris like the islets on Cherbaniani, or a formed-island like
Bitrapar.
The most northerly of the formed islands and the northmost
member of the central chain is the inhabited island of Chitlac (Lon.
72° 45’ H., Lat. 11° 45’ N.), visited and described by Mr. Robinson.
Mr. Hume was unable to land in 1875,+ and Dr. Giles, who
landed during the Investigator visit in 1887, confined his attention
to the’ marine fauna.t Mr. Robinson describes the island as
two to two and a half miles long and about three-quarters of
a mile wide, situated on the eastern side of a large and perfect
atoll. The surface is less even than in the other islands, owing
to aridge of sanddrift that runs up the middle, rendering the
* Alcock, “ Administration Report of Marine Survey of India,” year 1891-2, p. 10.
+ Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” vol. iv. p. 436.
{ Carpenter, “Administration Report of Marine urvey of India,” year 1887-8, p. 7.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 279
soil so poor that the growth of coco-nut tree is slow and their
outturn poor. *' Low mounds of sand occupy a great part of the
“centre and best protected parts of the island on which nothing
“ erows, except scanty crops of a plant called Teerny, on the roots of
“which a small ball about the size of a pea grows; after the plant
“has withered, these are gathered from among the loose sand and
“used by the islanders. Dry cultivation on this island is very in-
“ sionificant.”* The Teerny is obviously Tacca pinnatifida, which
we know from Lieut, Wood to be cultivated in Anderut, and from
specimens in the Investigator collections to be grown in Akati and
in Minikoi. The tubers, however, are apparently unusually small in
Chitlac, for the specimens of those grown in Akati and Minikoi sent
to Calcutta are as large as plums. Still even these latter compare
very unfavourably with the tubers of Tacca as it occurs wild on the
shores of the Andaman Sea; there they are usually larger than a
man’s fist, and are often as large as the human head.
South-east of Chitlac,in Lon. 73° HE. and Lat. 11°28’ N., lies
Kiltan, the smallest inhabited island of the group. It has been
visited and described by Mr. Robinson,+ by Mr. Hume,t who also
has published a map of the island, and by Dr. Alcock.$ Both
Mr. Hume and Dr. Alcock have made collections, and a third col-
lection has been obtained by Dr. Alcock and Mr. Fleming during
the second Investigator visit in 1891. The atoll of Kiltan ‘is a
“long oval reef enclosing the usual lagoon with one entrance at the
“north-west corner, surrounded by the usual shelving bank, varying
“from one-eighth to half a mile in breadth, beyond the edge of which
‘the lead drops at once into very deep water, and with the whole
“ eastern side of the reef converted into an island which is nearly two
‘miles in length, and may average nearly a quarter. of a mile in
“width.” || ‘The lagoon is large but shallow, and is nearly dry at low
‘water. The whole island is devoted to the cultivation of the coco-
* Robinson, ‘‘ Madr. Journ.,” vol. xiv., p. 26.
+ Robinson, “ Madr. Journ.,” vol. xiv., p. 23.
{ Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 436, with Map.
§ Alcock, in Hoskyn, ‘“‘ Administration Report of Marine Survey of India,” year
1889-90, p. 12.
|| Hume, ‘‘ Stray Feathers,” vol. xiv., p. 486.
37
980 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
‘ nut, the trees being planted down to the water’s edge on every side;
“the substratum of coral-rock is nowhere broken up for grain culti-
‘vation, which therefore hardly exists on the island. The population
‘being too limited to consume the coco-nut leaves, the ground in
‘some parts is covered with decaying vegetable matter, most bene-
“ficial to the trees. In other islands it is necessary to rear plants for
‘one year with care and then transplant them ; in this, a nut buried
“with a knife will grow, requires no attention, and comes into bearing
‘“early.”* Mr. Robinson mentions the Bread-fruit, Areca-nut, and
Lime as trees that are planted by the islanders, but says that they do
not thrive; in addition to these Mr. Hume mentions the Papaya, the
Horse-radish tree, the Plantain and the Castor-oil plant; beside
these, Mr. Fleming also enumerates the Agati (Sesbania grandiflora)
which is grownasa support for the Pepper-vine, a plant on which the
people bestow much attention ; the Melon too is reported by Mr.
Fleming as ‘only cultivated,’ as perhaps is the Cucumber, of which
Mr. Fleming has communicated one specimen, found growing ‘wild.’
Healso found a hummock of Khus-khus grass(Andropogon muricatus),
no doubt planted, growing near the mosque, and noted the
American Aloe, introduced from the mainland, and growing well.
The indigenous vegetation belongs almost entirely to the class
of ‘littoral’ species, of which Mr. Hume’s, Dr. Alcock’s and
Mr. Fleming’s collections contain ten; the only noticeable points
concerning this group are that the whole lagoon-face of the island
is described by Hume as lined with a hedge of Scaevola Koenzgzt,
and that Thespesia populnea is reported by Fleming as here only an
indigenous, never a planted tree.
There is, says Dr. Alcock, no true jungle in the interior,f and the
only species that cannot be classed either as ‘weeds,’ or as ‘littoral
species’ are Vitts carnosa (probably bird-introduced), and Tylophora
asthmatica and Leptadenia reticulata (probably both wind-introduced).
As in the case of Akati, the majority of the species present are
either weeds or escapes, plants unintentionally introduced by man;
of these, the three collections together contain thirty-one species.
* Robinson, “ Madras Journal,” vol. xiv., p. 24.
+ Alcock, in Hoskyn, “ Administration Report of Marine Survey of India,” year
1889-90, p. 13.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 281
Kadamum lies south-west of Kiltén and due south of Chitlac in
Lon. 72° 44’ KE. and Lat.° 11°12’ N. Of this island topographical
accounts have been given by Mr. Robinson who visited it in 1844 and
1845, and by Mr. Hume who visited it and made a botanical collec-
tion in 1875, while Dr. Alcock and Mr. Fleming made a second and
very exhaustive botanical collection in 189]. Kadamum is the
largest island of the group and is sitaated on a long oval atoll like
that of Kiltén; the reef here is, however, about 45 miles long, and
the island itself 3$ miles long and about three-quarters of a mile
across the widest portion. I'he lagoon is also larger and much deeper
than that of Kiltén, but with no good passage through the reef.*
“The body of the island appears generally lower than that of any
“‘ of the others, and has an excellent natural protection in a ridge of
“low sand-drift which runs down the west side,”’t The soil is
naturally fertile, bemg damper and firmer than in some of the other
islands, but the coco-nut cultivation is limited to a strip across
the middle, leaving more than three-fourths of the island, divided
into two nearly equal parts on either side of this strip, covered with
natural jungle, the southern portion of the island being occupied
by a thick low scrubby undergrowth in which the Screw-pine is
conspicuous, the western part being an open plain covered with
grassy weeds and low bushes. The island, ‘ especially in its
‘northern half, has a deserted and neglected air, and the coco-nuts,
“instead of dominating the scene and monopolising attention, are
“almost lost sight of in the surrounding jungle”’.t There is no area
specially prepared for grain-tillage, but the natural soil being better
adapted for the purpose than in the other islands, a considerable
portion of the dry-grain raised in the group is produced in this island.
The people of Améni go there and cultivate during the mon-
soon, rdgi (Hleusine Coracana), jowart (Sorghum vulgare), and
loba (Vigna Catjang),§ Mr. Hume mentions two species of the
cultivated class, viz.: J/ndigofera tinctoria, which he speaks of as
‘wild’; Dr. Alcock also sends specimens of this without any
* Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” vol. vi., pp. 443, 444.
+ Robinson, “ Madr. Journ.,” vol. xiv., p. 20.
{ Alcock, “ Administration Keport of Marine Survey of India,” year 1891-2, p. 9.
§ Robinson, “ Madr. Journ.,” vol. xiv., p. 22.
989 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
remark, as if he too had found it in a ‘wild’ state: also Iwora
Bandhuca, which was common at the time of Mr. Hume’s visit, but
which Dr. Alcock does not appear to have met with. Mr. Fleming’s
list of cultivated plants includes Sesbania grandiflora, with the
Pepper-vine it is grown to support; the Papaya; the Cape Goose-
berry (Physalis perustana, also reported by Mr. Hume from the
adjacent island of Améni); the Castor-oil plant; the Banyan (of
which four examples occur, planted near some deserted huts) ; the
Plantain (of which four were seen in the neighbourhood of the Ban-
yang). Mr. Fleming does not report Tacca pinnatifida, though pro-
bably this, asin the other islands, is the Taro that is cultivated—
the other Taro (Colocasia antiquorum) he reports as present here,
as it is in all the other islands, but, as in these, only in a ‘wild’
condition.
The littoral species reported from Kadamum are 19 in number.
These include Thespesia populnea, which, planted in some of the
islands, occurs here as an undoubtedly indigenous, sea-introduced tree,
and Guettarda speciosa, occurring in large clumps, not recorded from
any other member of the group. ‘Scaevola Koenigit is very abundant
all round the coast, as is the Screw-pine, but Ipomoea biloba, very
abundant on some of the islands, e.g., in Bitrapar, where it covers the
whole beach, and in Akati, where it also extends into the interior of the
island, is here confined to the shore, and is not very common even
there. Wedelia scandens is one of the most common plants, and is
spread all over the interior as well as round the coast; the same is
true of Cassytha filiformis, which, in some parts, loads the scrubby
undergrowth. ‘T'wo other sea-coast species that here extend inland
from the shore, and form a large part of the shrubby interior jungle,
are Morinda bracteata and Premna wmtegrifolia. In strong contrast
with Bangaro, where Caesalpinia Bonducella is so common as to
form the basis of the jungle, it is noted in the Investigator
collections that only one plant of this species was met with
in Kadamum.
Truly inland species that combine with Pandanus, Premna, and
Morinda to form the shrubby part of the jungle are lacourtia
septaria, Pavetta indica, and Pleurostylia Wightit. All these are
noted as ‘ very common throughout the island.” The last-named
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 283
is a particularly interesting addition to the Laccadive Flora; all
three are very likely bird-introduced species.
Two creepers, almost certainly wind-introduced, occur both inland
and along the shore, these are Leptadenia reticulata and Tylophora
asthmatica ; “a tall loose-flowering grass (Apluda aristata) fills
“all the outskirts of the jungle.’’*
The weeds and escapes from cultivation that occur number 42 ;
some of these may perhaps be bird-introduced species; probably,
however, most of them have been unintentionally introduced by
man, and the high total is obviously the result of the fact mentioned
by Mr. Robinson, that this is the island where the Améni people
grow the greater part of what grain-crops they raise. The most
interesting of these weeds is the Mudar (Calotropis gigantea), “ very
‘‘common in the centre of the island near the huts” (Investigator
note), and therefore possibly, though not a cultivated species, one
originally deliberately introduced because of the excellent quality
of the fibre it yields, which is used, by the Mapilla population of the
mainland at least, for making fishing-lines. Another interesting
weed is a rather insignificant, but very rare sedge (Cyperus hyalinus).
The most interesting ‘‘ escape” is undoubtedly the Indigo plant
which forms whole fields, broken only by patches of Izora cocemmeu
(I. Bandhuca).+
A short distance to the south of Kadamum (Lon. 72° 43’ E., Lat.
11° 8 N.) lies Améni, the most important of the British Laccadives.
This island, about two miles long and three-quarters of a mile
across, is low, with a very uneven surface. Situated originally on
the eastern side of its atoll, the island has grown westward into the
lagoon, till now no lagoon-space isleft, and the island is consequently
so ill-protected from the sea that the soaking of coco-nut coir
among the sand, practised in all the other islands, is here impossible.
The soil in this island is naturally poorer, according to Mr. Robin-
son, who, as wellas Mr. Hume, has visited and described it, than it is
in Kiltén or Kadamum, a fact which Mr. Robinson explains} by the
consumption in various ways, by its dense population, of the fallen
* Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 44d.
t Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. iv., p. 445.
{ Robinson, “ Madr, Journ,,”’ vol. xiv., p. 18.
284 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
coco-nut leaves, thus depriving the ground to some extent of the
advantage of the natural manure that the soil of the other islands
receives. The whole island is under cultivation, principally coco-
nut, and there is no underwood. The coco-nut plantation runs
down tothe sea-side on the east and the north, but along the
western, more exposed side, a strip of waste land 200 yards wide is
interposed between the plantation and the shore, while at the south-
west corner and south end of the island, where the exposure is too
great for young trees and the dry sand is deeper than elsewhere
many acres are lying waste.
The structure of the island is like that of the other formed
islands already described; the soil is of lhght coral sand, finer
than, and quite as dry as, common sea-sand, or, in some parts, of
small loose pieces of coral. This soil varies in thickness from two
to six or eight feet, and has a bare sandy surface, which gets wind-
blown unless covered with undergrowth; where the soil is under
coco-nut or other cultivation this sand is hidden by the humus, of
variable thickness and richness, that hasaccumulated. Wnderneath
this surface soil of sand and humus is the bed of coral-rock
already mentioned in the account of Bitrapar. This layer, a
foot to two feet thick, appears to be just above water-level and
stretches uniformly throughout the island. Underneath this layer
lies a bed of wet sand and when the crust is cut through and wells
or small tanks are dug in the damp subsoil the people obtain a
constant supply of water, slightly brackish but still potable, except
in the case of Bitra, where, as has been already said, the wells yield
water which is quite salt. The water in these tanks and wells rises
and falls a little with the tide.
In the middie of Améni, however, unlike any of the islands yet
described, the upper soil and the coral-crust have been completely
removed from about 50 acres of ground, the surface of the soi
thus left being hardly above the level of the sea. This carefully
prepared area, termed locally the kat, has a poor, light, sandy soil,
but is fertile on account of having the subsoil water within a
foot or so of its surface. This kat is reserved practically
for the cultivation of grain and vegetables. “The
“‘eoco-nut trees planted in or about its edges are exceedingly
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 285
“fine ;’* the Bread-fruit trees, which are numerous in Améni,
erow most luxuriantly here, while considerable numbers of
Betel-nut trees occupy the same situation. The cultivated plants
enumerated by Mr. Robinson include, besides the coco-nut, betel-
nut and bread-fruit, the ragi (Hleusine Coracana), jowdri (Sorghum
vulgare), badag (Setarta verticillata), Sweet-Potato, Yam, Plantain,
Castor-oil plant (cultivated for its oil) and Anatto (grown for its dye,
Several hundredweights of fruit of Biza Orellana being annually
exported to Malabar) ; the Lime is also mentioned by him as being of
excellent quality and the trees as numerous. In addition to these
Mr. Hume mentions the Pomegranate, Papaya, and Horse-radish
tree as common ; he observed also some Banyans, some Tamarind
trees, some Amla (Hmblica officinalis), and a number of Poon-trees
(Calophyllum inophyllum), planted. He further enumerates among
cultivated vegetables Colocasia antiquorum, which in all the other
islands appears to be ina ‘wild’ condition. He notes having
observed all the sea-shore species obtained in Bitrapar except a
sedge (Cyperus pachyrhizus), and his specimens include Huphorbia
Atoto which has not been found on the coasts of any of the other
islands.
Mr. Hume’s is the only collection made in Améni; it includes
eleven species that may be classed as weeds as well as the following
species that should probably be considered as ‘escapes from culti-
vation’ :—Datura fastuosa, Physalis peruviana, Mucuna capitata,
Clitoria ternatea,and Barleria Prionitis ; allthese are garden or hedge
plants weli known in India, here they all appear to be growing in a
‘wild’ state. .
The Piti sand-bank, situated in Lon. 72° 35’ E. and Lat. 10° 45’ N.,
is on the extreme southern edge of a large sunken bank twenty
miles Jong, that extends to this point from the vicinity of Ameni.t
The rest of the bank carries from six to twenty fathoms of water, the
subaérial patch is about 800 yards long and 200 yards across,
standing about 6 or 7 feet above high-water mark, and is quite
devoid of vegetation. It evidently occupies the south-eastern
corner of a sunken atoll, for, whereas on all other sides bottom is
* Robinson, “ Madr. Journ.,’”’ vol.. xiv., p. 18.
+ Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” vol. Vi., p. 453.
986 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
found at 10 or 12 fathoms, on the south-east side one finds 100
fathoms close up to the bank and immediately beyond are
deep-sea soundings. Quite like this bank, it may be remarked,
is that of Hlikalpéni (Lon. 74° 5’ H. Lat. 11° 15’ N.), a peak about
35 miles north-east of Anderut, which does not, however, become
subaérial at all. This peak, the nearest of the Laccadive Group to
India, is a small dead-coral bank with a few bunches of live-coral
on it, carrying 7 to 8 fathoms and with no sign of shoal water.*
Similar also, though of larger size, especially the first named
of the three, and giving rather deeper soundings, are the dead-
coral banks of Bassas de Pedro (20-30 fathoms)t, Sesostris Bank
(11-30 fathoms), and Koradivh (23-26 fathoms), lying to the north
of the Laccadive Archipelago. [tis curious to note that the name
of the last mentioned bank appears to be applied by the author of
the Tohfat-al-Mujahidin to one of the whabited islands of the
archipelago. {
South of the Piti Bank lies Korati, a large inhabited island in
Lon. 72° 40’ HE. and Lat. 10° 35’ N., visited by Mr. Hume. He
speaks of it§ as a fine island of the usual type with a fair lagoon.
The soil appears to be better than that of Améni, the cultivation
practically identical; the only wild species that Mr. Hume collected
was the sea-shore laurel, Hernandia peltata ; this he did because he
observed it here for the first time. The species is now also reported
from Minikoi, whence Dr. Alcock sends specimens, but so far it.
has not been obtained in any of the true Laccadive Islands except
Korati. A small islet, Korati Féti, which, according to Lieut.
Wood’s table has coco-nut trees, occurs on the same reef.
Besides the Elik4lpéni Bank, already described, the peaks of the
Hastern chain are the atolls of Anderut and Kalpéni.
* Carpenter, “Administration Report of,the Marine Survey of India,” year 1888-89,
p» 6.
+ Hume, ‘Stray Feathers,” vol. vi. p. 428.
+ “ Madr. Journ. of Lit. and Sc.,” vol. xiv., p. 3. Kordeeb ( Koradivh ?) is given as
one of the five principal islands which contain “ cities ;” probably, however, Kiltén
is intended by the historian, though the name he gives is apparently that by which
this sunken bank is known.
§ Hume, “Stray Feathers,” vol. vi., p. 454,
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 287
Anderut, Lon, 73° 35’ H. and Lat. 10° 45’ N., is a large island
occupying the southern face of avery extensive reef of the usual
type. According to Lieut. Wood, who visited it in 1834, the island
presents a bold front to windward ; that front being, nota reefas is
usually the case, but one side of the island itself, while the coral-
reef on which it is based and the lagoon which the reef encloses
project to leeward. He describes it further* as *‘ low, well planted
“‘ with cocoanut trees, and free from underwood. Its medium height
“above the sea is about 9 feet, but towards the centre of the island,
‘and on its southern side, the surface is lower, and in no part does
“it exceed the height of 12 or 15 feet.”
“The northern side of the island is low, the centre gently undulat-
‘ine and the south side one continuous sandy plain, with large
“detached masses of coral-rock scattered over it, The little valleys
‘formed by these clumps, of various figures, are under cultivation
‘“‘and produce, amongst other things, a plant not unlike our rhubarb,
“‘of a most acrid, pungent taste. It is reared as we do Jerusalem arti-
‘chokes, set in rows, and covered with a manure of decayed vegeta-
“tion, They have also the Sweet-potato, but of such an inferior
“orowth that we can scarcely recognise in it the root we meet in
‘¢India. A small quantity of rice is grown in the rainy season ; not
‘‘more than 15 or 20 days’ consumption. The rhubarb-looking plant
‘‘ appears to prefer a damp moist soil, for on the more elevated parts
‘of the island there was none to be seen.”
“‘Of the soil the most elevated is the richest, In the valleys the
‘“ coarse sand which forms the lower stratum is but scantily covered
“with a thin coating of vegetable matter; sterile in many places,
“and presenting a similar appearance to a field on which a compost
‘‘of lime has been partially. thrown; but at the.higher parts of the
“island, where the cocoanut palm has flourished for ages, a deep
“soil is already formed, which every succeeding season must
“increase and render more fertile.”
“There are many wells on the island, and one small tank, but
“‘good fresh water is to be had all over Anderut by digging to
‘‘a moderate depth. Firewood is rather a scarce article, but
* Wood, “Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc.,” vol. vi., p. 81.
38
288 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
“where the cocoanut forms the chief article of food this matters
“little.”
‘‘In my ramble over the island I found the Plantain, Orange,
‘‘ Papaw and Lime-trees, Betel-nut, and two species of Cotton-tree,
“ besides a fine stately-looking tree, with dark green foliage, not
‘‘unlike the broad-leafed Elm; this tree yields fruit, but as it was
“not then in season I know not its nature. The Cocoanut, Plantain
‘‘and Papaw are the only cultivated fruits; the others are growing in
“a wild state, and the Betel-nut excepted, occupy but little atten-
‘‘tion. Although you meet with nothing amongst the trees which
“‘you can term brushwood, there are plenty of creepers and coarse
“ grass.”
Dr. Alcock, who has likewise visited Anderut says, ‘‘there is no
‘‘ true jungle, the island being covered with cocoanut palms, with
‘‘a few curiously excavated areas under tillage (ragi, sweet-potato
‘‘and a species of arrow-root), and wild plants were therefore
“scarce.’”*
It is somewhat remarkable that Lieut. Wood does not mention
the existence in 1834 of the excavated areas, the kat, indicated by
Dr. Alcock; perhaps they have been formed since the time of Lieut.
Wood’s visit. The ‘rhubarb-looking plant’’ of Lievt. Wood’s
account is the Polynesian Taro, Tacca pinnatofida.
Dr. Aleock’s collection includes 16 weeds. and escapes from
cultivation, two of these (Dentella repens aud Herpestis Monnieria),
being weeds of wet places not recorded from any of the other
islands. His ‘wild’ species that are not weeds include Gloriosa
superba, not reported from any other island ; perhaps, however, like
Stachytarpheta indica, which he also reports and which also seems
confined to Anderut, the Gloriosa may be here only an escape. It is,
however, a common littoral species elsewhere, so it may quite well
have been introduced by the sea. Thespesta populnea he notes as here
planted only ; he notesthe Bread-fruit, not recorded by Lieut. Wood,
and the American Aloe, apparently quite a recent introduction into
the Archipelago ; this is present now in Kiltén, however, as well as in
* Alcock, in Hoskyn, “‘ Administration Report of the Marine Survey of India,” year
1889-90, p. 13.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 289
Anderut. Lieut. Wood records two species of Gossypium as
cultivated ; these are not grown in any of the other Laccadive Islands
proper; specimens of G. barbadese have, however, been sent from
Minikoi, and Mr, Fleming enumerates G. herbacewm as one of the
cultivated species in that island. Lieut. Wood also notes that Rice
is, or earlier in the present century was, grown to a small extent.
He also notes having seen the Orange as well as the Lime cultivated.
This no one else has reported, though Mr. Fleming reports the
Pomelo as well as the Lime from Minikoi.
The “ stately-looking tree with dark green foliage not unlike the
“‘broad-leafed elm” is probably the Jack (Artocarpus integrifolia) ;
it has not, however, been met with in any of the other islands.
One of the most noteworthy features of the Anderut flora is that
it is in this island only that any ferns appear to occur; Dr. Alcock
has sent specimens of two species, Nephrodiwm molle and
Nephrolepis cordifolia from here, though neither he nor Mr. Hume
have seen any ferns elsewhere in the Archipelago.
South of Anderut, in Lon. 78° 35’ EK. and Lat. 10° 5’ N. lies the
last true Laccadive atoll of Kalpéni. This island is situated on the
eastern side of its reef, on which there is besides, according to Wood’s
table, asandbank, Kalpéni Féti, unstocked with vegetation. Kalpéni
was visited by Dr. Alcock in ‘November, 1889. He speaks of it *
as ‘‘a typical coral island, in almost every respect like Anderut and
“ Kiltan.”
His collection includes 19 weeds and escapes from cultivation, the
most interesting weeds being Urena sinuata not recorded from any
other island, and Ammania baccifera and Polygonum barbatum, two
marsh-weeds not reported from any other island; the most interest-
ing escape being Ocimum gratissimun, which, however, he mentions
as occurring in Bitrapar, and which he has also collected both in
Akati and in Minikoi.
The coast species number 1], includiag Calophyllum imophyllum,
here not planted, and Clerodendron inerme, not reported from any
other island, not even from Minikoi. Vitis quadrangularis too, only
* Alcock, in Hoskyn, “ Administration Report of the Marine Survey of India,” year
1889-90, p. 15.
290 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892. |
reported from this island, is common on the sea-face jungle, which
is here much denser than it is in Améni, Anderut, or Kiltan.
The usual cultivated species are reported, and there is a kat in
which rdgi and other grains and vegetables are grown. |
The last island to be noticed is Minikoi, the position of which has
been already indicated. ‘The atoll is nearly circular and emerges
from the sea on the eastern and southern sides to form a long narrow
almost semi-circular island about 5 miles long and half a mile broad.
“The rest of the atoll is a reef that dries in places at low water and
with the island encloses a lagoon that in places carries over 6
fathoms. The island stands ouly a few feet above the sea; its
structure is identical with that of the true Laccadive islands. The
water in the wells is clear and pleasant to drink; it contains
roughly about 40 grs. of Chlorine per gallon.*
The island is covered with coco-nut palms and subordinate jungle
and the vegetation exhibits the general characters of that of the true
Laccadive islands, but is more luxuriant and is richer beth in in-
digenous and cultivated species than any of these. Dr. Aleock and
Mr. Fleming have made a very extensive collection, including 40
weeds and garden escapes, ten of these (eight weeds and two
escapes) not occurring in any of the true Laccadive Islands, with 28
littoral species of which the following eight, Canavalia turgida and
Canavalia obtusifolta, Vigna lutea, Terminalia Catappa (which is
ubiquitous), Sesuvium Portulacastrum, Ochrosia borbonica, Ipomoea
denticulata, and Convolvulus parviflorus are not found in any
of the other islands of the group.
The inland ‘wild’ species include the following not recorded
from any other island of the group:—Allophylus Cobbe, Ruellia
prostrata, Pancratium zeylanicum, Dioscorea bulbifera, Pstilotum
triquetrum, Calymperes Dozyanum, Physcia leucomelas and Physcta
obscura, Pleurotus cuneatus and Pleurotus tenwissimus, Polyporus
igniarius, Trametes Muelleri, Hirneola fpolytricha and Nostoc
\
VErTUCOSUM.
* Alcock, in ‘ Administration Report of Marine Survey of India,’ year 1891-2,
p. 11.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 291
There are, it should be noted, none of the shrubby wild species
reported from Kadamum, the whole island, excepting the coast
zone, Which has, however, a very distinct sea-fence of Pandanus,
&c., being under cultivation,
The cultivated or planted species are numerous, reaching a total of
42, and include the following, not to be met with in any of the other
islands:—Anona muricata (one tree); Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis ;
Murraya oenigii (carefully cultivated); Citrus decumana (one
ree on the island) ; Mangifera indica (only one tree); Arachis
hypogea; Psidium Guayava ; Eugenia Jambos; Hugenia Jambolana ;
Lawsonia alba; Luffa aegyptiaca ; Momordica Charantia; Cucurbita
mazima ; Capsicum frutescens; Phyllanthus distichus; Ficus
nitida.
Calophyllum inophyllum and Terminalia Catappa are planted,
though both occur indigenously as well; digle Marmelos is perhaps a
species originally deliberately planted; Datura fastuosa is scarce
here, Mr. Fleming only noting it once and then finding it cultivated
in a garden; Gossypium barbadense is cultivated pretty frequentiy
and grows well, Sorghum vulgare grows well, but is very little
cultivated. The most striking features in the vegetation of Minikoi,
as compared with the other Laccadive Islands, are the presence of
thick sheets of the gelatinous Nostoc on the ground at the south-west
end of the island, where also the trunks of the trees are encrusted
with lichen.and covered with moss; the number of Funyi present ;
and the presence of Algae on the reefs of the surf-beaten weather-
side of the island. Of these last unfortunately no specimens were
collected.
Two tables are appended to this topographical sketch ; in the
first the various components of the Laccadive Group are shown ; this
table is a modification of the similar one prepared in 1834 by
Lieutenant Wood . (Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc, vi., 30). In the
second table, in order to facilitate reference, the spelling adopted
by the various authors who have mentioned or described the
Archipelago is given; the first column contains the forms adopted
by the writer.
292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
T4BLE /.—List of Laccadive Banks, Reefs and Islands.
Chain of
A | EA ah ce LO a neers ae
peatel Name. Nature.
Western ...... Koradivh ......... Sunken bank of dead coral carrying 23-26 fathoms
Witton Sesostris Bank...| Sunken bank of dead coral carrying 11-30 fathoms,
Ditto Cherbaniani ...... Open reef with three small islets of coral débris
devoid of vegetation.
Ditto meene Cheriapani ...... Open reef with (?) several small islets of coral
débris, devoid of vegetation.
Ditto ...... Bibra pare waco Reef withone formed-island (Bitra), clothed with
vegetation and with coco-nut trees in centre, but
without inhabitants.
TD HHO sonoog Pirmalpar ... .. Open reef with one large subaérial sand bank
(Pirmalla), devoid of vegetation.
IDE) goo he Akati...............| Reef with three islands, one inhabited (Akati), and
two clothed with vegetation but not inhabited
(Bangaro and Tangfro), also a sand-bank without
vegetation (Akati Féti).
WitbOmes ee Suhelipar ......... Reef, probably open, with one island (Suheli), prob-
ably clothed with vegetation but not inhabited.
Central ...... Bassas de Pedro. | Sunken bank of dead coral carrying 20-30 fathoms.
Init) cop den Chitlac ............| Reef with one island (Chitlac), inhabited.
Ditto HSTIRSUGY seanopo6 a0 Reef with one island (Kiltan), inhabited.
IDyieK®) coo 000 Kadamum ...... Reet with one island (Kadamum), inhabited.
IDS) ceo vee Amenity is... Inhabited island (Améni) occupying the whole reef.
IDKEE® coavnal Piti Sunken bank of dead coral carrying 6-15 fathoms,
with one subaérial sand-bank (Piti), devoid of
vegetation.
ION) — noaone Korati Reef with one inhabited island (Korati) and a
sand-bank devoid of vegetation ( Korati Féti).
IDE) 2e5600 Minikoi ............| Inhabited island (Minikoi) ; in this island the popu-
lation is Maldive, though the island is politically a
Laceadive one: in position this atoll is inter-
mediate between the Laccadive and Maldive
Archipelagos.
Hastern ...... Hlikalpéni...... ..) Sunken bank of dead coral carrying 7-8 fathoms.
Ditto mall Ammicl@xUbmmseeeeene Reef with one inhabited island (Anderut).
IDS) — “sno 000 Kalpéni............] Reef with one inhabited island (Kalpéni) and a
small islet (Kalpéni Féti).
S tealianeniiaiadiiatemndiarsennemneiiedeieeneeneemeniemeeeenimmminmemeeanatemmeerateenmeeseamammasiammasammmneneemaeaieeemmetenmmetemmemmeemetaetttemmeammeneeeeteneesee tema eee
29
i LACCADIVES.
BOTANY OF THE
*
a
‘(qey
“483
Fe eee eee
roMLULyY
serene luadjey
+ qnaepuy
Here ee TapIOYy
rev eneemenes serene. rapa
“8 MIQUEL
" cnMepey
See pT
pA WAT
wedreyqug
ees OLVBUBY,
tees tee o1esueg
See aren
es redeulaig
treeesesreee redeaqig
sreseoees Toe BLLOyO
Ce aee
‘roy |-urpy) toyrarpy j-unyY 10 Aooouryy |" FeyaeepY | tt Mit ar CCM a0 ¢ 9oNN
updey foe rmedpey fe rardpey pee Aardjey ft couydiey | (Ausdyoy) roodyey hes cic
“0010p
‘qnaepuy |" qjorpuy |-UQ JO Yoapay | gorpuy [t's qoropuy |" (70Upuy) oorepug |**:""""*' Oo1epuy |"
9099nIq ey : * (29
SECO BURLY ‘" Taavreaey | IO eafyeamog | Ayeanoy |'''* oqqQoreqey |-7LNvy) ooeqnaqed |" Sagznyey |"
Ig CO AenIOOD Peewee rere e cen 191g see Peeves saree rer ene ere eee (aa;7nJ) oryyd eee eee wer eee
Sal DULY,
see eee cen tee Io 1U9u 8G un Us orcs Le devi {OGG Aaopusomy sees coupMyy *(haapusowp) tmoury sector ee ees Tueuly soso
“qnuUepey *(Qow
‘untmepaeg ft uepey | to wnmepreg | qemepey ps ' Suospey j-npyy) wnuuepaep | epnfunuefuny |'"*
Tlie Reese ueyiy [oc weajey [ot WoL yy (unyayy) weqry |“ 'qeepaoy ¢ fo
UU Ga “~ yepeuO eleqO sooegiq) | FeO GO: | anowl-n4 eS ee ee cans mnyepeyeqs |
*(aajayng
sop ese BEL DOW DO has) of gk fe [Peas “ yedreyng [ot Tyoyug | ‘eaTtog |spuvlsy aedipeynog pee Wa
heen - . weet OOIVSULT, se eeee Kp TeAeUIy, Ce OIVSUT, eee . free
a
Usevecvesees | = +e eovves on a ooresuUig avaeres “ TeIp SUV Pee perenne *OIvsaig te teeee
"AV[e5 VW
“eqqnyny | 1498s y | 10 eaqqnony | Ageyy fo eoyeqyy (fiqoyp) eyqnony |" seuRBDDW
*(nynU4aq)
‘redjnmoereg | a gedijnyy o1og | °°" Bppeuteg |" wmnorqey, ¢ | Joay wed-jnu-o19eg Sossveaaee
' -aedeaqeg
‘redeajog “ eiyig | pus —avd-eaqig, jt eajog fret eragqgeg | (weg) redvaqoyy os G00
‘(sfaau hundvhueyp)
exo Suresd gf sis Olseeer isk ruvdvaroyg |: Auedefreqg | Yeategg | jJooy erocmvatg oO? ORO
(‘sfoan fiundofiyag)
‘“aaduojeq: | Bes 1UBIURGLOTO huededjjeg | ibe jooy riueraeqroyg Spans
Rae “uypryolnyy
(¢ JOJESTISOAUT ,, “Taqunyy emuyy “MOSTIGOY POO ([seLO TT -110-4of4O,
TuURIULqIeYyO
"Sa2JlLOYIND SNOLADA O7 Sutp..os9y spunjsy puwy sfoay aatpvov'] fo saunN—'JT IAP L
994 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Systematic List or Laccapive PLants.
Subjoined is given an enlarged edition of the Laccadive list
already published by the writer.* This new list cludes, besides
the species recorded in the former one, all those contained in the
collections made during the two visits paid by the Investigator, subse-
quently to its publication and all those mentioned by Lieutenant
Wood and Mr. Robinson in their accounts of the Archipelago. As a
complete set of the specimens collected by Mr. Hume, Dr. Alcock
and Mr. Fleming is preserved in the Calcutta Herbarium, the writer
has been in a position to authenticate the whole of their species ;
these are indicated in the list by an (!). Those names to which no
mark of verification is appended belong to the species mentioned by
Lieutenant Wood and Mr. Robinson, mentioned but not collected
by Mr. Hume, or enumerated in Mr. Fleming’s list of cultivated
plants, without specimens having beensent. Inthe preparation of the
list, the writer has received much assistance from Dr. G. King, ~
B.R.S.; Mr. W. B. Hemsley, r.R.s., who has kindly verified some
dubious species at Kew; Mr. J. F. Duthie, r.us., who kindly
named the grasses; Mr. G. Massée, F.L.s.. who equally kindly
named the Lichens and Fungi, and Mr. G. R. M. Murray, r.us.,
who xindly named an Ascothamnion ( A. intricatum) collected by
Dr. Alcock in the lagoon at Kadamum, and who has, from these
specimens, been enabled for the first time to state definitely that
Ascothamnion is not a vegetable at all, but is the same thing as
Zoobotryon pellucidum of Hhrenb., an animal. He wishes to
express his great obligation to all these gentlemen, and especially
to his friend, Dr. A. Alcock, of the Indian Marine Survey, for the
enthusiasm with which he has taken up the subject of the Laccadive
Flora and for the thoroughness with which he and his assistant
Mr. J. Fleming, Apothecary on board H. M. I. M. Investigator,
have made the collections on which this list is mainly based.
To Captain Hoskyn,t Commander of the Investigator, who has
* © Scientific Memoirs by Medical Officers of the Army of India,” part V.
+ The sad death of this talented Officer, which has occurred since the last of these
collections was made, has removed from the Naval Service one of its most brilliant
surveyors. The event is one to be deplored not alone by his own Service, and not only
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 295
also been most enthusiastic in this matter, the thanks of all who are
interested in the subject of island-floras are equally due, for having
so kindly afforded his officers these opportunities of landing
on, and investigating the botany of, the islands of this group.
In the list itself purely cultivated species are indicated by a
distinctive type ; species that have become ‘ escapes,’ even though
they may at the same time be ‘ cultivated,’ and trees that, though
they may be ‘ planted,’ occur also as ‘indigenous’ species, are not
distinguished in this way. ‘The references in the list are mainly
to Dr. Roxburgh’s Flora Indica and to Sir J. D. Hooker’s Flora
of British India, andas regards cultivated and economic species
also to Dr. Watt’s Dictionary of the Economic Products of India.
(To be continued.)
REPORT UPON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS
SENT TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM BY Mr. EDGAR
THURSTON, OF THE GOVERNMEMT CENTRAL
MUSEUM, MADRAS.
By. R. I. Pocock, of the British Museum, (Nat. Hist. Dept.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society,
29th November 1892.)
The Scorpions discussed in the present paper are referable to two
families—the Buthidce and the Scorpionide.
Of the Buthide, a family which is characterised by a aan trian-
gular sternum, only two genera are known to occur in India—namely
Buthus and Isometrus. The former, containing but one species that is
recorded below, may be recognised from the latter by having the
cephalothorax distinctly keeled, two teeth on the lower edge of the
by those outside it who, like the writer, had the privilege of enjoying his personal
friendship, but by every Zoologist and botanist in the Kast, because of the
interest he took in, and the great practical sympathy he always showed for, every
branch of biological research.
39
299g JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
immovable digit of the chelicerze* or mandibles, and no spine beneath
the aculeus on the poison vesicle of the tail. The characters of
Isometrus Mr. Oates has already pointed out, and in connexion with
this genus it only remains to be said that it has recently been split
into two by Prof. Kraepelin of Hamburg, who thinks that those
species which have the proximal tibial segment of the 3rd and 4th
pairs of legs spurred at the apex, should be regarded as a distinct
genus, to which he has given the name Archisometrus.
Mr. Oates’ list of the Indian and Burmese species of I[sometrus was
complete to date. Subsequently Dr. Thorell has described one mora
species (J. few) from Burma; and I have been compelled to relegate
to the world of synonyms Mr. Oates’ species I. phipsoni, which was
described from Tenasserim. It is certainly identical with messor of
Simon (1884), weberi of Karsch (1882) and almost certainly with
scuttlus of Koch (1842). With regard to the remainder of Mr. Oates’
paper I have only to say that the specimens that he identified as
atomarius of Simon are not to my mind distinct from his examples
of varius, and that the species that he has termed varius is the one
that I, following Dr. Thorell, look upon as mucronatus of Fabricius.
In any case curvidigital of Gervais is an older name for it than
varius of Kocht.
It will thus be seen that there are only some nine or ten species
of this family recorded from the whole of India, Ceylon, and British
Burma. Judging from other countries, similarly situated, this num-
ber is very small. But I do not for a moment doubt that with a
little diligent collecting it could be more than doubled in a very
short time. For next to nothing has been published on the scorpions
of the centre of Hindostan.
In the family Scorpionide the sternum is not triangular but
pentagonal.
Mr. Thurston has sent to the British Museum representatives of
only two genera—namely, Hormurus and Scorpio. Hormurus belongs
* In his paper on the Indian species of Isometrus, Mr. Oates applies the term
chelicerze to the palpi or chelz.
+ I trust it will be understood that my remarks concerning my friend Mr. Oates’
paper, have not been made with any ill-becoming feeling of criticism. It has simply
been my wish to give a brief réswmé of the work done in Indian scorpions during the
past three years.
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 297
to the group of flat scorpions in which the tail is small and strongly
compressed, and the hand very flat, with a strongly defined external
surface.
The genus Scorpio may be considered as typical of the family. The
species are pay excellence the ‘big black scorpions’ of travellers. The
genus is confined to the Old World,* being widely distributed in
tropical and sub-tropical Africa, India, and Ceylon and Java. The
only genus in the Oriental Region with which it is likely to
be confounded—and the likelihood it must be confessed is not
slight—is Palamneus of Thorell. Palamneus is in appearance very
like Scorpio, being of large size and of a piceous or olivaceous tint ;
it may be recognised, however, by the fact that the movable dactylus
of the chelicerx is bifid at the extremity, the superior terminal fang
being of large size; the inner border of the hand, moreover, is much
thicker. In Scorpio this fang is small and the hand is internally
more compressed.
This genus Palamneus largely takes the place of Scorpio in the
Indo-Malayan area. One species only has been recorded from India
and that without definite locality. This is Palamnceus spinifer
(Hempr. and Ehrb.) with which P. petersii of Thorell seems to be
synonymous. The British Museum, however, has several examples
of this species from Bengal, and from this locality it spreads in a
southerly direction to Singapore. But in Burma there is found a
second species, about which there has been much discussion. This
has been named ¢hore//ii, and judging from the numbers of it that
Mr. Oates brought to England, it is far more commonly met with
than spinifer.
For a consideration of these two species reference may be made to
the Annals and Mag. of Natural History, ser. 6, vol. ix., pp. 38-48
(1892).
Family Buthide.
(1) Lsometrus thurstoni, sp.n. (? var. nov.)
9. Colour very like that of I. maculatus, ochraceous, variegated with
black; cephalothorax with its lateral margins black, ocular tubercle,
region of lateral eyes and ante-ocular portion black, a narrow median
* C. Koch has described one species from Mexico.
2998 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
pale band, however, runs from the tubercle towards the anterior
border; the rest of the cephalothorax ochraceous with symmetrically
arranged black patches, the posterior border being marked with
three patches, one median and one on each side near the lateral angle ;
each of the tergites, except the last, marked with three longitudinal
black bands, the lateral being complete, and the median interrupted
in the centre; there is in addition a smaller spot on the posterior
border on each side of the middle between the median and lateral
bands ; the last tergite with an anterior median spot and on each side
two anteriorly abbreviated posterior bands, the edges of the tergites
anteriorly black; tail with black patches along the keels, the vesicle
without spots, the apex of the aculeus black; legs and palpi spotted
as in maculatus.
Cephalothorax with its anterier border widely and angularly excised
in front, mostly granular throughout, very closely granular in the
ante-ocular portion.
Tergites granular throughout, the granules being a little coarser in
the posterior half of the body ; the lateral keels of the seventh tergite
complete behind, abbreviated in front where they are united by a few
larger granules.
Tail slender, parallel-sided, long, about seven times as long as the
cephalothorax; the keels prominent and conspicuously and evenly
denticulate throughout, the posterior denticle of the superior keels of
the Ist, 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments only being larger than the rest,
the intercarical spaces weakly and sparsely granular, the median
_ lateral keel complete on the first segment, entirely absent on the
others, the fifth segment with its upper surface lightly convex,
excavated only posteriorly and very shallowly in the middle line;
vesicle serially granular and sub-carinate beneath, a conspicuous
triangular spine beneath the aculeus which is only gently curved.
Sternites mostly smooth, the 4th and 5th feebly granular laterally,
the 5th furnished with four conspicuous anteriorly abbreviated
granular keels, of which the external are posteriorly abbreviated and
the internal posteriorly complete.
Palpt, long; the humerus furnished with five granular keels, two
posterior, an upper and a lower; three anterior, an upper, a median
and a lower, intercarinal spaces also granular, lower surface nearly
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 299
smooth; brachinm furnishe d above with three granular keels and in
front with about six dentiform tubercles, longer than the humerus
and considerably thicker ; manus thick, considerably thicker than the
brachium, its width equal to half the length of the hand-back, and
considerably more than a third of the length of the movable dactylus ;
not rounded internally but nearly parallel-sided; the dactyli
separated at the base owing to the sinuation of the immovable one.
Legs as in I. maculatus, the two posterior tibia not spurred.
Pectines, short, not extending to the extremity of the posterior
cox, armed with 16 teeth. Measurements in mm. Total lg. 67;
cephalothorax lg. and width 6; tail le. 45, lg, of Ist segment 4°5, of
2nd 6°5, of 3rd 7, of 4th 8:3, of 5th 10, of vesicle 4:5, width of Ist
segment (at distal end) 2°5, of 5th 2°8, of vesicle 2'5; Palp.; humerus
lg. 8°3, width 1-5; brachium lg. 8°6, width 1:9; manus lg. (along
back) 5:5, width 2°8 ; movable dactylus lg. 8.
Locality, Madras and the Sheveroy Hills.
This species that I previously recorded from Madras at J. maculatus
proves in reality to be a different form, but whether a variety or a
species must for the present be left undecided. I gladly dedicate it to
its discoverer, Mr. Edgar Thurston.
It is very closely related to I. maculatus, of which a fairly good
figure was published by Mr. Oates in the 4th number of the 3rd vol.
of this Journal. Indeed before the male sexual characters are
declared, the two species are difficult to separate—a circumstance
which led me, not knowing the adult male, to identify the species as
maculatus. Apart, however, from sexual features, the two species may
be recognised by certain differences in colour. Thus in J. maculatus
there is a triangular fulvous patch on the cephalothorax extending
from the ocular tubercle to the anterior margin and sensibly dilating
from behind forwards, and the fifth segment and the poison vesicle
of the tail are flavous and spotted with fuscous. Moreover the
pectines or ventral combs, have from 17 to 19 (usually 18) teeth.
In I. thurstoni, on the other hand, the ante-ocular flavous patch is,
although present, very much smaller, is not sensibly triangular in
shape and does not reach at least the middle of the anterior border—
the’ poison vesicle and fifth caudal segment too are rather clouded
with fuscous or even ferruginous, and lastly there are only 15 or 16
300 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
pectinal teeth. These characters by themselves, however, would
hardly justify the formation of a new species; but when they are
correlated with a marked difference in the shape of the hand in the
adult male, their value is of course enormously enhanced. In the
adult male of maculatus—a cosmopolitan species of which I have seen
very many examples from almost all tropical and sub-tropical
regions—the width of the hand is about equal to the width of the
brachium or fore-arm, is about one-third the length of the hand-back,
7.€., the area between the joint of the movable dactylus and the joint
of the wrist, and about one-quarter the length of the movable dactylus.
Whereas, as stated above, in the single adult male of I. thurstoni from
the Sheveroy Hills the hand is much thicker than the brachium (cf.
measurements), its width is equal to half the length of the hand-back,
and considerably more than a third the length of the movable dactylus.
In addition to I. maculatus this species is closely related to a
second Indian species of the genus, namely J, assamensis, described
and figured by Mr. Oates in his paper in this Journal, which has
been previously mentioned. The three species in fact agree in the
entire absence of a spur on the apex of the proximal segment of the
tibia of the 3rd and 4th pairs of legs. J. assamensis, however, in
addition to two other characters to which Mr. Oates has referred, may
be recognized from both those here discussed by the presence of only
two, instead of four, granular keels on the last abdominal sternite.
(2) Lsometrus (Archisometrus ) scaber, sp. n.
Colour* ; cephalothorax obscurely ochraceous, very indistinctly
variegated with fuscous, the lateral margin and the ante-ocular
portion fuscous, the ocular tubercle and the eyes black; tergites
obscurely variegated, with two indistinct posterior yellow spots and
an anterior-shaped yellow mark on each side; palpi and legs ochra-
ceous, very indistinctly clouded with darker patches; tail, like the legs
nearly concolorous, ochraceous, deeper on the fifth segment.
Cephalothoraa a little wider than long, about as long as the Ist
caudal segment and 4 the 2nd; not carinate, coarsely and evenly
granular almost throughout, the granules finest in the middle of the
* This specimen shows signs of having lost its colour. Fresh examples would
probably be much more brightly tinted.
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 301
ante-ocular portion, the tubercle and surrounding area smooth or
nearly so, the anterior border widely emarginate.
Tergites with a conspicuous granular median keel, but without
traces of lateral keels, coarsely granular throughout; the last with
the median and lateral keels well developed.
Sternites, except the last, smooth and shining, the last granular
throughout, the median keels conspicuous, the lateral keels short,
each composed of about 6 serially arranged granules.
Tail moderately robust, nearly five times as long as the cephalo-
thorax, thicker at the base; moderately excavated above, the inter-
carinal spaces granular, the Ist segment furnished with 10 granular
keels, the 2nd also with 10 keels, but the median lateral weaker than
on the Ist segment, the terminal granules not enlarged, the 3rd and
4th segments with 8 keels, the 5th with 5 feeble and weakly granular
keels, and its upper surface posteriorly excavated ; vesicle of normal
form, marked below with feeble, weakly granular keels, the spine
long and strong, the aculeus also moderately long and strong.
Palpi: humerus furnished with the usual keels, granular above,
in front and behind; brachium also normally keeled and weakly
granular; manus rounded narrower than the brachium, the length
of the hand-back greater than its width, nearly smooth, weakly
carinate above; dactyli long, slender, curved, in contact throughout,
the movable more than twice the length of the hand-back.
Legs, granular and granularly carinate ; spurs short.
Pectines furnished with 17-18 similar teeth.
Measurements in millimetres:—Total length 36; cephalothorax
length 4:5, width 5; length of tail 22, of Ist segment 2°5, of 2nd 3,
of 5th 5:3, width of 1st (at base) 2°2, of 5th (at extremity) 1:2;
length of vesicle and aculeus 4:4; humerus, length 4, brachium,
length 4-5, width 1°6; manus, width 1:3, length along back 2°3,
length of movable dactylus 5.
A single female specimen from Madras.
This species is naturally enough closely related to the two other
Indian forms shoplandi of Oates and tricarinatus of Simon.
The former was obtained in Burma and was figured and described
by Mr. Oates in his paper in this Journal ; the latter was recorded
om Pondicherry. In Vol. XXIII. of the Journal of the Linnean
302 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Society (1891), I have pointed out the resemblances and the differences
between these two species—the two being unquestionably very closely
related. I have, moreover, given a figure of the male of tricarinatus
taken from a specimen in the British Museum that was sent from
Madras. Mr. Oates had not seen this species; otherwise no doubt
he would have recognised how nearly allied to it his shoplandi is.
Again, in the paper above referred to I have mentioned the occurrence
of shoplandi at Calcutta. The specimen of it, however, that the
museum possesses from this locality differs slightly, though not to my
mind specifically, from one of Mr. Oates’ typical examples. It will be
of great interest, therefore, to discover the variations to which the
species is liable, and to what extent specimens from other localities
bridge over the interval between it and tricarinatus.
This new form, as already stated, is related to both tricarinatus and
shoplandi, but it may be recognised at once by the shortness of the
spurs on the tibie of the posterior pairs of legs—the spurs being
remarkably long in the other two. From ¢ricarinatus it may be
further separated by the entire absence of lateral tergal keels and
by its much longer dactyli, &e. In both these particulars, too, it
differs from the Burmese example of shoplandi, but not from the
above-mentioned Calcutta specimen in which the dactyli are longer,
(though not so long as in scaber) and there are no traces of lateral
tergal keels. It is, however, much more granular than both these
individuals, has only 8 keels on the 5rd caudal segment and from
17 to 18 pectinal teeth, whereas in shopiandi there are 22 pectinal
teeth and 10 keels on the third caudal segment.
The most notable points of resemblance and of difference between
the three may be more clearly shown as follows :—
A. The 2nd caudal segment with 10 keels; the last abdominal
sternite with 4 keels.
a The spurs on the posterior tibie very long, considerably longer
than the hairs that surround them; dactyli shorter, the movable
not more, usually much less, than twice the length of the
hand-back; tail much thicker, pectinal teeth 21-25 (usually
22-23).
a ‘Tergites with distinct lateral ‘keels composed of three or
four granules; 3rd caudal segment with 8 keels, with, at most,
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 303
merely traces of the median lateral keel; cephalothorax an-
teriorly evenly granular and very slightly emarginate. .........
MI Msn fa chiete falabdc OU Te Sahat Ue © ois. s dateaan Vad tricarznatus, Simon.
6 Tergites with lateral keels absent or composed of one tubercle,
3rd caudal segment with 10 keels; cephalothorax smooth in
front and angularly emarginate ..........--...... shoplandi, Oates.
B The posterior tibial spurs very short, not longer than the hairs ;
movable dactylus more than twice the length of the hand-back ; tail
more slender; pectinal teeth 17-18 .............eece. seeeee! scaber, sp. N.
(3) Buthus martensii, Karsch.
B. martensii, Karsch, Mitth. Miinch. ent. ver., 1879, p. 112 ; Pocock,
Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1889, iii., p. 335.
B. grammurus, Thorell, Ann. Mus. Genov., 1889, pp. 567-570.
Scorpio tamulus, Fabr., Suppl. Ent. p. 294.
I here repeat the synonymy that I published in- the Ann. and
Mag. of Nat. Hist. 1890, 236. Subsequently Prof. Kraepelin has
given martensii as a synonym of the African form B. hottentotta ;
the two are certainly very closely allied, but the question of their
absolute identity is one upon which for the present I wish to suspend
judgment.
This species, the common yellow house Scorpion, is widely distri-
buted in India, having been already recorded by me from Sikkim,
Umballa, Bengal, Madras, and Bombay; and Mr. Thurston has
just sent others from Chingleput and Mysore. It has not yet been
recorded from Ceylon or Burma.
Family Scorpionidee.
(4) Hormurus leeviceps, Pocock.
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1890, pp. 242-244, pl. xii, fig. 1.
Sent originally from Madras and subsequently one specimen from
Tranquebar. Mr. Henderson, of Madras, who has collected this
Scorpion on the Nilgiri Hills, informs me that he has never seen it in
the plains.
In the original description of this species I stated that the dactyli
of the palpi have the same form in the two sexes. But this proves to
be an error ; for this example from Tranquebar is a male, and has the
movable dactylus lobate and the immovable correspondingly sinuate
40 ;
304 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
The males of the series from Madras were clearly not quite adult.
Another differential character for this species, which I did not before
notice, is the presence of only two setigerous pores on the upper
surface of the base of the immovable dactylus, in the other species
of the genus there are typically three of these pores.
(5) Scorpio swammerdami Simon.
Buthus afer, ©. Koch, Die. Arachn., ui, pp. 17-18, fig. 175 (not
afer of Linn.)
Heterometrus swammerdamt, Simon, Rey. Mag. Zool., 1872, p. 56,
pl. vi, fig. 3.
Panninus aepsr, Thorell, Ann. Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat., xix., pp. 199-
202 (pp. 125-128 of Extract), 1876.
Pandinus kochii, Karsch, Mitth. Munch. ent. Ver., 1879, p. 127.
Scorpio lucidipes, Simon, Bull. Soc. Zool. Fr., x, p. 38 (1885).
In the Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1890, pp. 237-241, I have already
explained my reasons for giving the above synonymy ; and it is need-
less here to repeat what was there said with regard to the sexual
characters of this species and of the variations it is subject to during
growth.
This is the largest Indian Scorpion, attaining a length of 176 milli-
metres (about 7 inches). It may be easily recognised by the great
length of the tail, this organ in the adult being more than four times
the length of the cephalothorax. In all the other Indian species
known to me the tail is less, sometimes much less than four times as
long as the cephalothorax. I have seen examples of this species from
Ceylon, Madras, Coonoor and Burdwan.
T have added afer of C. Koch to the synonyms of this species, for
this author’s figure appears to me to agree far better with swammer-
dami than with reseli of Simon—the large W. African species to
which Simon referred it. OC. Koch may have confounded the two
species, but his figure at least is that of swammerdami.
(6) Scorpio fulvipes C. Koch.
Scorpio afer, Herbst Ungeflugelt. Ins., iv. Skorpionen, pp. 38-42,
pl. i, fig. i. (1800).
C. Koch, Die Arachniden, iv, p. 45, fig. 278 (1838).
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 305
Karsch, Abh. Nat. Bremen., ix, p. 68 (1884).
Simon, Bull. Soc., Zool. F., x, pp. 23-24 (1885),
This species is very unmistakable. Hence the absence of synonyms.
‘For the sake of those who have not access to C. Koch’s work, I
give the following short diagnosis :
Colour, upper surface piceous, rufo- or olivaceo-piceous ; legs and
caudal vesicle clear yellew, ochraceous, or ferruginous.
Cephalothoraw usually about as wide as long, sometimes a little
longer than wide or vice versé ; in Q as long as the Ist + 2nd + 4
of 3rd caudal segments, in ¢ a very little longer than the Ist + 2nd;
the frontal lobes and sloped lateral portions sharply granular, the
upper portion mostly smooth; the ocular tubercle in the middle or a
little behind the middle, manifestly cleft, smooth, the eyes small,
separated by a space a little less than a diameter; the lateral eyes
sub-equal in size, either nearly evenly spaced or (usually) the pos-
terior more separated from the median than the anterior.
Tergites more or less finely granular postero-laterally, the last more
coarsely granular, with sometimes indications of the lateral keels.
Sternites entirely smooth.
Tail robust, in ¢ about 3% or 33 the length of the cephalothorax,
in 2 alittle more than 34, the superior and supero-lateral keels
denticulate or granular, the lateral area sparsely granular, the lower
surface of the first 3 segments entirely smooth, of the 4th granular
or sub-denticulate on the keels, the 5th with strongly denticulated
keels and a few sharp tubercles on the inter-carinal areas ; the vesicle
moderately large, furnished beneath with strongly granular keels.
Palpi robust in 9, generally more slender in d, the hwmerus
sparsely but coarsely granular above in the proximal two-thirds of
its surface, the keels in front and behind denticulate ; brachiwmn sub-
costate and rugulose, sometimes weakly granular above, denticulate
jn front; manus covered above with smooth, rounded, sometimes
slightly anastomosing tubercles, the inner border denticulate, the
lower surface sparsely but coarsely granular, some of the granules
forming two distinct series or keels; the upper surface either convex
or nearly flat, the sharpness of the inner edge varying with the con-
vexity, the area immediately above the keel of the ‘hand-back’
nearly at right angles to the plane of the upper surface and more or
306 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
less completely separated from it by a distinct though irregular ridge,
formed by the fusion of tubercles; the inner border of the hand
strongly rounded in 9 and some 4, the length of the ‘hand-back’
either much less than the width of the hand (2 and some 2) or
nearly or quite equal to it (some ¢), in some Q the width of the
hand is equal to the length of the movable dactylus, asa rule,
however, it is less.
Legs smooth, the lower edge of the femora alone being furnished
with a row of granules.
Pectines furnished with from 13 to 18 teeth; usually there are 14
or 15, one ¢ alone that I have seen has 18.
Measurement in millimetres:—@Q adult. Total length about 100, of
cephalothorax 16:5, of tail 55, of first two segments 14:5, of 5th
12°5, of vesicle and aculeus 11°5, width of Ist 7, of 5th 5, of
vesicle 5; length of humerus 11, of brachium 12, of hand-back 10-5,
of movable dactylus 16, width of hand 13:5.
3 adult a. Total length 84, of cephalothorax 18, of tail 49, of
first two segments 12°3; length of humerus 12, of brachium 13,
of ‘hand-back’ 10°5, of movable dactylus 14, width of hand 10.
S adult b. Total length 101, of cephalothorax 15:2, of tail 54, of
humerus 18, of brachium 14, of hand-back 11, of movable dactylus 16,
width of hand 13.
These measurements show how the two sexes differ with regard
to the length of the tail and of the segments of the palpi or —
chele. They also show that the hand of the ¢ may or may
not be slender in the adult. In all the males, however, that I have
seen the hand if it be not more slender is much flatter than in
the 9. Apart from these characters, however, the $ may be
recognised from the @ by his cleft genital operculum and much
longer pectinal teeth.
I have seen 17 examples of this species. Many of these are
ticketed India without further locality ; the others are from Madras
and Malabar. Simon has recorded it from Bellary, and Mr. Thurs-
ton has sent specimens from Madras and Tranquebar. It thus
appears to be widely spread in 8. India. The British Museum has
other examples, which are doubtfully from Rangoon and C, Koch’s
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS, 307
type-specimen was recorded from Java. Both these localities,
however, need, to my mind, confirmation. But if only one of them
can be shown to be correct ; it is probable that both are. Thorell (loc,
cit., p- 210) has suggested that afer of Herbst may be megacephalus
of C. Koch. The figure and description, however, appear to me
to agree better with fulvipes, the most marked difference being only
In the size. Herbst declares that his largest specimen measured
5 inches (German) in length. Whereas the largest example that I
have seen is less than 4 (German) inches. But since this species is
known to occur at Tranquebar whence the types of Herbst’s afer
came, it is probable, I think, that the two are the same species.
Apart from its conspicuous colouring, Sc. fuwlvipes may be recog-
nized by the smooth ridge, resulting from the fusion of the tubercles,
that runs along the external edge of the upper surface of the manus
(7) Scorpio phipsoni, sp. nu.
Colour mostly a deep shining green, sometimes olivaceo-ferru-
ginous ; tarsi and caudal vesicle ferruginous; pectines ochraceous.
Cephalothorax, about as long as the first two caudal segments and 4
the third, usually a little longer than wide, sometimes as wide as long,
sometimes a little wider than long, quite smooth above, weakly
granular at the sides and sometimes on the frontal lobes; ocular
tubercle low, the surrounding area being slightly depressed, dis-
tinctly cleft, eyes small, about a diameter apart, lateral eyes sub-equal
in size, the distance between the posterior and the median greater
than between the median and anterior.
Tergites either entirely smooth or weakly granular postero-
laterally; the last granular at the sides with one or more sharp
tubercles marking the position of the lateral keels.
Sternites entirely smooth.
Tail moderately powerful, but somewhat short, in the 3 up to 3}
times the length of the cephalothorax, but generally 34 times or less,
in 2 about 3 times the length or less, more powerful also in ¢
than in @2 ; the intercarinal spaces nearly smooth, the superior and
supero-lateral keels well developed and denticulate, the inferior
keels entirely smooth (weakly granular on the 4th) nearly obsolete
or more or less manifest; 5th segment with its margins denticulate ;
308 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
vesicle granularly carinate beneath, larger in the adult ¢ than in
the 9.
Palpi; humerus coarsely granular above, smooth at the distal end;
brachium subcostate, somewhat coarsely granular or sub-granular
behind, denticulate in front ; manus convex, thickly covered above
with smooth, slightly anastomosing, tubercles, nearly smooth or
weakly granular beneath, with two more or less distinct rows of
larger sharper granules, the inner border closely denticulate, convex,
the hand but little produced posteriorly, the movable dactylus greater
than the length of the ‘hand-back,’ length of the ‘hand-back’ a little
less than the width of the hand in Q or much greater than it is in
adult 3.
Legs, nearly smooth, the femora granular beneath.
Pectines in @ 11-12 teeth, in ¢ 13-15 teeth.
Measurements in Millimetres :—
2 Total length about 97, length of cephalothorax 14:5, width 14;
length of tail 45, of Ist segment 5, of 2nd 6 (of both 11:0), of 4th
7-2, of Sth 10, of vesicle and aculeus 9°5 ; width of Ist 6, of 5th 4; of
vesicle 8°5 ; length of humerus 11, of brachium 12, of hand 13:5, of
‘hand-back’ 10°5, of movable dactylus 13; greatest width of manus
11, smallest width 8.
&S Total length 104 ; length and width of cephalothorax 17; length
of tail 68, of first two segments 14, of 4th 9-2, of dth 13°5, vesicle and
aculeus 18, width of Ist 7:3, of Sth 5:2, of vesicle 5°2; length of
humerus 16, of brachium 17°5, of manus 18°3, of ‘hand-back’ 15, of
movable dactylus 17:5, greatest width of hand 12, smallest 9-5.
The museum has specimens of this species from Madras. Mr.
Thurston has, sent a male example from this locality and a female
from the Sheveroy Hills. In the form of the palpus this male agrees
closely with the one I have described, but the tail is certainly shorter.
The following measurements may be compared :—
Length of cephalothorax 16:5, of first two caudal segments 12, of
4th 7-5, of Sth 10.
The largest example in the Museum collection measures 110 mm.
in length. Thisisa d.
This species may prove to be synonymous with Se. ceylonicus,
Herbst (loc. cit. pp. 83-84, pl. v., fig. 1)—a species that seems to me
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 309
to have been established upon immature specimens that are possibly
referable to more than one true species. May be some of them are
megacephalus of Koch.
The species described by C. Koch (loc. cit. ix. pp. 9-11) as ceyloni- .
cus, Herbst, is, judging by the length of the tail, still another
species. Possibly it may be the young of swammerdami.
Whether Dr. Karsch (Abh. Nat. Ver. Brem., ix., pp. 68-69) in his
synopsis of this genus is discussing Herbst’s species or Koch’s or
both, I am unable to surmise.
This new species, phipsoni, which I have great pleasure in dedicat-
ing to the secretary of this Society, perhaps comes nearest to Sc.
megacephalus of C. Koch (loc. cit., iii., p. 73, fig. 224) of which the
Museum has examples from both India and Ceylon. The two agree
pretty closely in smoothness, in the shortness of the tail, &c.; but
in megacephalus the manus is much larger, its width being much
greater than the length of the back of the hand, moreover the tuber-
cles on its upper surface are lower and more anastomosed; the upper
caudal keels too are nearly smooth. The largest example that I have
seen of megacephalus measures 122 mm. in length.
It also closely approaches bengalensis of C. Koch; but the manus
is much flatter and much more distinctly tubercular.
The following synopsis may prove of some use to those who are
in difficulties over the Indian species of this genus :—
Synopsis OF THE Inpran Spectres oF Scorpio.
a. Tailin 3 and 2 more than four times the length of the
cephalothorax ; the cephalothorax in ¢ and @ shorter than the
first two caudal segments ; manus strongly produced posteriorly,
with its inner edge nearly straight......... swammerdami (Simon).
b. Tailin ¢ and Q less, in 9 always much less, than four
times the length of the cephalothorax ; the cephalothorax in 9
always, in the ¢ usually considerably shorter than the first two
segments; inner border of the manus more convex.
a’. The external area of the upper surface of the hand
nearly vertical and separated from the rest of the surface by a
distinct though sometimes irregular ridge formed by the linear
anastomosis of tubercles; legs, cheliceree and vesicle clear
fulvous or ferruginous .......esseeseeereeeeee fUdvipes (C. Koch).
310 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
61, The upper surface of the hand evenly convex from
the keel of the ‘hand-back’ to the inner edge.
a*. Hand with its inner border and its upper surface
very convex, remarkably wide, as wide as it is long, the
smallest width, z, e., at the base of fingers, greater than the
length of the ‘hand-back’; in ¢ the tail is just about four
times as long as the cephalothorax, which is slightly shorter
than the first two segments .............0600. cesar (C. Koch).
b?. Hand with inner border and upper surface less
convex; longer than wide, length of the ‘ hand-back
greater than the least width of the hand; tail in ¢ less
than four times as long as the cephalothorax, which is
considerably longer than the first two segments.
a°. Cephalothorax entirely covered with coarse gra-
nules or tubercles; tergites also coarsely granular pos-
teriorly ; the upper surface of the tail coarsely granular,
the granules forming distinct longitudinal series
Wiel hse cMatersmcsicluveche -ibete Wes eilde'o Gs oid lee eee es scaber (Thorell).
6°. The cephalothorax not granular throughout,
smooth above ; tergites and upper surface of tail smooth
or nearly so. |
a*. The hand narrower, its width in thed less, in
2 about equal to or a little greater than the length of
the ‘hand-back.’ |
a°. The upper surface of the hand covered thickly
with distinct tubercles and much less convex, its
inner border in consequence being sharper; the
inferior keels of the 4th caudal segment almost
smooth; the vesicle more slender and pyriform
HOE Ge AP ARE OR ANO Cee RIOR Ge ar AG: . phipsont (sp. n.)
6°. The upper surface of the hand very convex
and smoother, being completely covered with
indistinctly defined, low, anastomosing tubercles;
the inferior keels of the 4th caudal segment
denticulate; the vesicle stouter, less pyriform, with
the aculeus more abruptly curved ......... bengalensis
(C. Koch).
ON A SMALL COLLECTION OF SCORPIONS. 311
b+, The hand much wider, the width in dand @
being much greater than the length of the ‘ hand-back.’
a®, The upper surface of the hand furnished with
large, low, sometimes anastomosing tubercles; the
anterior superior caudal keels smooth or nearly so
SF ier pert (8s Soren tar senses reese megacephalus (C. Koch).
b®, The upper surface of the hand smoother and
adorned with a reticulated pattern of fine low ridges,
imparting a coarsely punctured appearance to the
surface; the anterior superior caudal keels denti-
@ulate gant sagas ines AAR nee indicus, Linn. (Thor.)
Scorpio cesar of C. Koch (Loe. cit., ix, pp. 6-9, fig. 697) described
from the East Indies, bears a strong resemblance to the great West
African species Sc. africanus, Linn. (Thor.)* It is, however, smaller
and has a shorter tail, &c. The British Museum has two specimens
of this species, one from Ceylon and the other without locality. Both
ared. The length of the Ceylonese example is !21 mm., of which the
tail is 67 (its first two segments 17:5), and the cephalothorax 16°5.
C. Koch’s specimen, as also the one described by Thorell (loc. cit.
p- 205), appear to be females. Sc. crassimanus of Becker (Ann.
Soc. Ent. Belg., xxiv, pp. 7 and 8, pl. III, fig. 1) may be this
species, but the figure of it is too crude and the description too brief
to enable one to speak with certainty on this point.
Scorpio scaber (Thorell, Etudes Scorpiol., p. 202. Syn. afer, Simon,
Rev. Mag. Zool., 1872, pp. 11-18, pl. VI, fig. 1) is a species that
cannot be mistaken for any other. The upper surface of the
cephalothorax is entirely covered with tubercles, the tergites, more-
over, are also decked with tubercles or granules in the posterior half,
and on the superior intercarinal spaces of the tail the coarse granules
are arranged in definite longitudinal series. The hands, on the
contrary, are very smooth, being covered with a reticulated pattern
almost as in indicus.
The British Museum has only four examples of the species, ticketed
East Indies. According to Simon it is common at Bengal.
* I strongly suspect that the species known as gigas, Pal. de Beauv., reseli,
Sim., imperator, C. Koch, sumoni, Becker, and dictator, Pocock, will prove to be syno-
nymous with africanus.
41
312 . JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Scorpio bengalensis of C. Koch (loc. cit. ix., pp. 3-5, fig. 696) from
Bengal, was by Simon referred to the genus Palamneus. The British
Museum has, however, five examples (2 2 3d) of a scorpion from
Bengal which, to my mind, is certainly the species described by Koch
Two of these specimens present the reddish-brown colouring of
C. Koch’s example, but this colouring is purely a question of date
from the time of moulting; the others have the characteristic deep
green tint more or less shaded with ferruginous.
The sculpturing of the hand in this species calls to mind the reticu-
lated pattern of this segment in Se. indicus, but the ornamentation
-is much coarser and more distinctly tubercular.
Scorpio indicus, Linn. ° (Thorell, Ann. Mus. Genov., (2), VI, pp.
412-414) (=cyaneus and reticulatus, C. Koch, op. cit., IIL, p. 75 and
IV., p. 25) is typically a Javan species. I have merely included it in
the accompanying table on the strength of a specimen in the British
Museum collection, which is ticketed Ceylon.
The only described oriental species of this genus which has not
been here considered, is Scorpio humilis of Simon (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr.,
(5), VIL. (1877) p.94-95) from Manilla. But judging from its distri-
bution and from certain characters that are mentioned in the
description, | am inclined to suspect that it is a young Palamneeus
and not a Scorpio.
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
By Surcson-Masor K. R. Kirtixar, I.M.S.
AGE eile
(With Plate D.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on
November 29th, 1892.)
PYTHONIUM WALLIGHIANUM—( Kunth.)
| (Natural Order—ARoIpDE&. )
MaraTHi—iiqe.
Aw annual plant, erect, glabrous; the flower-stalk appearing at the
end of the hot-weather, just before the outburst of the monsoons ;
very common in the Thana jungles; leaf-stalk appears in the rains.
i @ Jao Nas
gird
O @
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HE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 313
Tusrer.—Large, placentiform, fleshy, containing plenty of starch ;
rounded, with a depression on the top where the scape and petiole
arise: whence also several cylindrical, fleshy, thickish roots arise,
divided into numerous fine filamentous rootlets. Colour, yellowish-
brown; size, varying from two to six inches or even eight in diameter
from side to side ; two to four inches from top to bottom, Epidermis
rough, pitted, inseparable. Tuber-substance on section whitish,
firm. .
Lear.—Large, radical, solitary, petiolate, glabrous, umbrella-
shaped ; tripartitely decompound. Loves deeply pinnatifid; secon-
dary segments or leaflets of the tripartite lobes (pinnee) lanceolate,
acuminate, four to six inches long, narrow at the base ; deep green in
colour ; the ribs or principal veins running straight from the mid-rib
to the margins at equal distances, yellow in colour on the under-surface
of the leaflets, and very prominently marked ; these principal veins
are ultimately reticulate. The outermost lobes are pinnatipartite.
The middle lobe slightly pinnate, or sometimes, as in the accompany-
ing plate, a solitary simple leaflet, ovate, acuminate. Margins of the
leaflets entire, sinuated. Petiole, solid, succulent, cylindrical ; shorter
than the scape, dividing into three sub-divisions, each called by
Blume (Rumpiia) a‘ rachis,” although the term “rachis,” accord-
ing to Lindley, is strictly confined to the divisions of the petiole
of the leaves (sic) of Ferns, as also to the axis of an inflorescence.
The so-called “ Rachis’’ of Blume is deeply sulcate, bordered
with a decurrent expansion of the lower margins of the lateral
leaflets.
Scarre.—One or two feet long, cylindrical; oftener compressed
about the mid-part ;$—linch in diameter, or of the size of the
thamb at the apex of the tuber, where it is loosely enfolded by two
membranaceous greenish-red scales; the scape of the size of the little
finger at the most at the top. Colour variegated, with linear streaks
of white, purple, pink, green and brown.
SpatHE.—Terminal, solitary, erect, clavate, ten to twelve inches
long, thick coriaceous convolute below, cuculiate above (cucullate
meaning—upper margins curved inward so as to resemble the point
ofa slipper ora hood). ‘The spathe as a whole is cymbiform, or
boat-shaped, opening about the middle ; greenish-yellowish, brown
314. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
or purplish ; dull opaque outside ; minutely reticulate, and pinkish
or purplish inside.
Spaprx.—Erect, clavate, of the thickness of the middle finger
ordinarily, at its broadest part ; of the length of the spathe, and
completely covered by it ; for about an inch from the base bearing the
female organs; thence up to about the middle bearing the male
organs ; for sixinches above that densely covered with numerous
rough, irregular, spongy, parallel unequal crests or tubercles tinged
whitish, yellowish or brown.
AntuErs.—Sessile [or placed on very short filaments (Awnth,
En. Pi., Vol. II1.,-p. 30) |, very densely aggregate in four or five
stellate fascicles, oblong, fleshy, yellowish, slightly compressed ;
apex somewhat abrupt; quadrilocular, Locwi narrow, tubular;
in opposite pair; dehiscing from the apex (Wallich). Pollen
composed of large ovate granules,
Ovaries.—Numerous, close-packed, ovoid, hidden in the convo-
luted base of the spathe; about fifteen in number, arranged in
a spiral manner; unilocular, containing an erect, ovate, solitary
orthrotropous ovule, enclosed in a soft fleshy indusium.
Style, cylindrical, somewhat incurved; scarcely longer than the
ovary.
Stigma, thick, fleshy, somewhat lateral, and looking downward ;
trilobate : lobes equal ; triangular, acute, with tumid margins, closing
upon each other in a somewhat valvate manner; two lateral; one
superior. i
Fruir.—A Bacca or berry changing in colour from green to yellow
-and subsequently rich scarlet as it matures; monospermous; scarcely
seen. Seed—unseen ; exalbuminous? (A. R. K.).
REMARKS.
Wallich classes this plant synonymous with Thomsonia Nepalensis
(vide Wallich’s Pi. As. Rar. P. I. 83, T. 99), also Blume
(Rumphia, I., 150). Kunth refers this plant to the genus -
Pythonium ; the plant itself he names after Wallich. he species is
a solitary instance of the genus. I am decidedly disposed to retain
the name Kunth gives, as it truly represents its natural appearance.
The purple marking of the stem at once recalls to mind the mottled
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 315
skin of the Python. Wallich names the genus ‘“ Thomsonia,” after the
celebrated Dr. Anthony Todd Thomson, for a long time Professor
of Materia Medica in University College, London, and distin-
guished for his botanical tastes and for his genuine pharmacological
researches in the early days of that Institution. Wallich, however,
addsa note, whichis well worth remembering, that the genus so
named after Dr. Todd Thomson should not be confounded with
another genus similarly named, but differently spelt—Thompsonia,
The latter genus was formed by Mr. Brownand classed as a genus
under the Natural Order Passifloree, in honor of Mr. John Vaughan
Thompson,
The genus Pythoniwn is allied to Arum and Caladium, but differs
from them in having its spadix entirely covered by the spathe in the
base of the spadix being pistilliferous, its middle part being anther-
bearing, and its apex verrucose ; the loculiof the anthers tubiform and
vertically dehiscing at the apex ; styles manifest; stigma three-lobed,
subvalvate. Blume in his Rumphia (Vol. I., p. 146) notes that the
genus Pythonium is intimately allied to the genus Amorphophallus,
from which it cannot be distinguished except by its quadriporus
anthers and uni-ovuled ovary, the ovary of the Amorphophailus
being, bi-, tri- or quadri-locular. I may also add that the berry
of the Amorphophallus is monospermous (one-seeded) or oligo-
spermous (with only a few seeds), whereas Pythonium is always
one-seeded.
The flower-stalks are seldom if ever allowed to remain in our
jungles sufficiently long to bear fruit ; long before even the stamens
and pistils develop, the flower-stalks are cut down by our jungle-
haunters as soon as they appear above the ground and sold in the
bazaars with a bunch of the fruits of Kakad (Garuga pinnata).
These stalks are used in cookery. Curries are made of it, finely
chopped, mixed with slices of KAkad as an adjunct. The strongly
acid quality of this fruit is decidedly destructive of the acrid property
of the flower-stalk. The highly acid fruit of Bilimbi (Averrhoa
Bilimbi) is also used in the curries of the flower-stalk for a similar
purpose. The Oxalate of Potassium which the Bilimbi contains has
no doubt the power of destroying the taste and the potency of the
acrid juice. Boiling also with a pinch of common salt removes
316 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1832.
the acridity. When the flower-stalk matures, it emits the offensive
odour of a rotting carcass, and attracts swarms of blue-bottles.
Tue Poisonous Properties oF THE PLANT.
The whole plant is acrid. It has never been used for criminal
purposes, but when used for culinary purposes, it has often irritated
the mouth, fauces and pharynx to an alarming extent. The late
Dr. Vinayak Govind Gidha, L.M. & S., saw, im conjunction with
the late Dr. Sakharam Arjun, some cases wherein much irritation
of the mouth and throat followed the culinary use of the flower-
stalk. The bulb is acrid likewise; but I am not aware of its ever
being used for culinary purposes. Nor do I know of its ever being
used as food in famine times when people are hard pressed and eat
whatever can keep off hunger, although in the late Dekkan Famine
of 1877-78, in the Nasik District, Teri Alu (Colocasia antiquorum)
appears to have been used, It is well known that the English
Cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum) of this order is so poisonous that
even a small piece of its leaf when eaten by children has been
known to produce convulsions. But the chief point I wish to note
in connection with it is, that although the root and the plant are
highly poisonous, the poison may be removed from them, and a
wholesome flour made from the root.—(Anne Pratt.) The other
representatives of the Arad order, such, for instance, as the plant I
am now describing, are equally noted for the readiness with which
they part with the acrid element they contain, especially by means
of heat. Long boiling before using the flower-stalks renders
them harmless, though even sometimes the acridity is per-
ceptible. It is not, therefore, always agreeable to eat curried Shewla,
though it may not be always positively unsafe to do so. The
fact of the acridity disappearing on boiling is indicative of the volatile
nature of the acrid element. Dr. Sakharam Arjun has noted his
experience regarding the poisonous properties of the root of Pythoniwm
Wallichianum in a paper which, if I remember right, he read some
years ago before the Grant Medical College Society. But not having
allthe numbers of the Society’s Transactions and printed Proceedings,
I regret I am unable to cite the cases he mentions. I know from
my own practice that im several instances severe irritation of the
Journ Bomb. Nat.Hist.Soc.
Mintern Bros. del.et ith.London.
BUFO FERGUSONII.
A New Toad from Travancore. °
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TOAD. 317
fauces has followed the internal use of the flower-stalk followed by a
temporary cedema of the mucous membrane of the uvula and pharynx.
In Dr. Sakharam’s and Dr. Vinayak Gidha’s practice the tongue was
noted to have become rapidly swollen, a phenomenon not unknown
in the poisonous symptoms following the ingestion of the leaves of
the English Cuckoo-pint, a congener of the Bombay Shewla. The
curried Shewla, when not acrid, or when the acridity is “ just passable,”
or faint, is by no means an unattractive or unpalatable table delicacy,
but you can never know when the throat or the tongue may not
have to pay the penalty of even a careful or moderate indulgence in
a delicious but treacherous curry.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE D.
From the left of the reader to the right.
(1) Spadix exposed; spathe drawn down over the upper part of
the scape. (2) Bulb, roots, and rootlets; two membranous scales
seen on either side of the dark-mottled petiole (cut across); these
membranous scales were originally round the scape which falls
before the petiole appears. (3) Boat-shaped spathe, exposing spadix.
(4) Leaf on petiole ; tripartitely decompound.
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TOAD FROM TRAVANCORE.
By G. A. BouLencEr.
Bufo fergusonii.
Crown with weak bony ridges, ez, canthal, pra-supra and
postorbital, supratympanic, and parietal, the latter directed obliquely
inwards; snout short, obtuse ; interorbital space broader than upper
eyelid ; tympanum very distinct, close to the eye and about three-
fifths its diameter. First finger not extending beyond second; toes
hardly half-webbed ; no enlarged subarticular tubercles; metatarsal
tubercles feeble; no tarsal fold. Tarso-metatarsal articulation
reaching tympanum. Upper surfaces entirely covered with small
spinose warts; parotoids scarcely prominent, as long as broad, half
318 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892
as long as the hand. Pale olive-brown above, with a few irregular
darker blotches.
A single specimen, a gravid female, measuring 46 millim. from
snout to vent, was found by Mr. H. 8. Ferguson at Trevandrum, on
the Cavalry, Parade ground, in August, 1891, and presented by him
to the British Museum.
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW EARTH-SNAKE FROM
TRAVANCORE.
By G. A. BovuLEenceEr.
Rhinophis travancoricus.
Head very small, with acutely pointed and compressed, but not
keeled, snout; rostral shield about one-third the length of the
shielded part of the head, wedged in between the pra-frontals and
narrowly separated from the frontal; latter shield once and one-third
as long as broad, and slightly shorter than the parietals ; eyes hardly
half as long as the ocular shield; four upper labials, first very short,
fourth nearly as long as second and third together. Diameter of
body 34 times in the total length. 17 scales round the middle
of the body, 19 behind the head. Ventrals, about once and a half
the size of the contiguous scales, 146; subcaudals 6; caudal disk a
little shorter than the shielded part of the head. Dark purplish-
brown, the scales on the sides and belly edged with whitish; anal
region black ; tips and lower surface of tail yellow.
Total length, 170 millim.
The single specimen sent to the British Museum by Mr. H. S.
Ferguson was obtained near Trevandrum, at the 6th mile-stone
towards Vambayam, in June, 1892.
Distinguished from the other 8. Indian species of this genus,
R. sanguineus, Bedd., by having 17 instead of 15 scales round the
middle of the body, by the low number of ventral scales, and by
the coloration. In the Ceylonese species, the rostral is keeled above,
or, if not, the caudal disk is very short.
ALODUDAWAT UOLZ IYVUS-YPLDY MAN” Fy
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Journ.Bombay Nat.Hist.Soc.
Mintern Bros. Chromo lith, London
E.C.S,Baker del.
Wise PLAIN BROWN WRENN.
Elachura immaculata, (Baker).
Anew species discovered tn North Cachar, Assam ,uv May 7891.
NOTES ON A NEW SPECIES OF WREN. 319
NOTES ON A NEW SPECIES OF WREN FOUND IN
NORTH CACHAR, ASSAM.
By E. C. Sruartr Baker.
(With 1 Plate.)
* ELACHURA HAPLONOTA, Sp. NOV.
(Prarn Brown WRev.)
Description.—Whole upper plumage and wing-coverts dark
umber-brown, rather lighter on the rump and upper tail-coverts,
the feathers obsoletely edged rather pale sienna-brown; wings dark
cinnamon-brown on the exposed parts and dark brown where
unexposed (in the closed wing); tail brown, tinged with cinnamon-
red, but not so strongly as are the wing quills; lores fulvous-brown,
dusky next the eyes; chin and throat white tinged with fulvous, and
the feathers, except in the centre, tipped dusky ; breast and sides of
neck fulvous-brown, the feathers tipped brown and sub-tipped white,
the white being most prominent in the centre of the breast; centre
of abdomen and belly white; flanks and under tail-coverts fulvous-
brown, some of the feathers of the former tipped white; thighs
ereyish-brown, the feathers with the shafts slightly paler; under
wing-coverts grey ; axiliaries dark fulvous-brown.
Bill dark horny, slightly paler at the commissure and tip; gape
black, mouth bluish, fleshy ; irides light red ; legs sanguineous, fleshy ;
claws very pale.
Length, measured in the flesh immediately after death, 4:15’;
wing 1:95”; tail 1:58”; bill at front *41” and from gape ‘52”; tarsus
barely ‘6”; length of hind claw nearly °28’. First primary, ‘72’;
second, 1:02”; third, 1:25”; fourth to secondaries, 1°3”.
Mr. Sclater (British Museum), to whom the bird was sent for
identification, gives the following short diagnosis of it :—
“ Elachura—
“Similis H. punctata, sed supra concolor, minime albo punctata
“(dorsi punctis albis nullis) et remigibus caudaque unicoloribus nec
“‘nigro transfasciatis.”
* A description of this new Bird appeared in the Ibis in January, 1892.
42
320 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
In addition, the measurements of the two birds are also very
different; Oates (vide “ Fauna of British India Birds,” Vol L., p. 340)
gives the following as the dimensions of E£. punctata—“ Length about
4:5”, tail 1:2”, wing 1:8’,” so that E. punctata would appear to be a
larger bird with shorter wing and tail. The bird above described
was obtained on the Hungrum Peak in the North Cachar Hills and
at an elevation of about 6,400 feet.
It was trapped on its nest under the following circumstances:
On the 11th of May, 1891, I was engaged in visiting numerous
nests which had been previously marked down for me by some
Naga boys. On being shewn a nest built undera big log, which
had fallen so as to rest on two rocks, and was thus slightly
raised from the ground, I at once saw that it was new to me, so
instead of taking the eggs, I sat down a short distance away from
it, to watch for and shoot the parent bird. I sat thus for fully half
an hour, but no bird visited the nest, though two small brown birds
kept scuttling backwards and forwards over the log, now hidden in
,he moss, now perched for a moment on one of the bunches of orchids
which grew allover it. In their actions they closely resembled
Pnoepyga pusilla, and, as that bird is very common about Hungrum,
I thought they were of that species, though every now and then
they uttered a long clear whistle which I did not recognise as a note
of Pnoepyga. No bird actually approaching the nest, and not think-
ing that the pair on the log were the owners of it, I got up and went
close up to it, whereupon the two birds flew off a yard or two with
a jerky fluttering flight into some long grass, and then crept rapidly
from stalk to stalk until they were out of sight, keeping up a
continuous loud “chir chir” all the time we were near the log, though
they did not again show themselves.
The Naga, who was with me, set some mithna-hair nooses on the
nest before leaving it, and that same evening we found one of the
birds caught in them, and they were again set in hopes that the pair
might be also caught. On the morning of the 12th, on visiting the
nest, we found that the other bird had not returned, and, though I
waited about a long time in the hope of obtaining a shot at it, it did
not appear, so we took the nest and eggs, of which latter there were
three only.
NOTES ON A NEW SPECIES OF WREN. 321
The nest was placed on a pile of dead leaves, bracken and branches
which filled up the hollow below the fallen tree, and it was supported
on either side by a broken branch. The major part of the materials
consisted of skeleton leaves bound together with dark, coarse
fern-roots, a few bents, and also one or two fine elastic twigs; the
outermost part of the nest was of dead leaves of all kinds, very loosely
bound together and contrasting with the inner part which was very
compactly lined with skeleton leaves alone. In shape the nest is a
deep cup with the back-wall much prolonged, though not enough so
to form a roof or porch. The measurements of the nest are as
follows: Outside, not including the looser twigs and leaves, the
broadest part is 3°3”; the height of the back-wall, 5:4”; of the front-
wall, 2:44”; depth of the interior, from level of top of front-wall,
1-4” ; diameter as nearly as possible *2”.
The nest when first taken was soaked through more than half-way,
the lining of skeleton leaves alone being dry. It was beautifully
hidden amongst the dead branches and ferns, and I don’t think I
should have ever found it myself. The ground on which it was
found had some eight or ten years previously been cleared for
cultivation, and was again overgrown with fairly thick scrub jungle,
but there were no trees about, except dead ones, and most of these
had long fallen to the ground and were all covered with a dense
mass of tree-ferns, moss and orchids. A road ran within some ten
feet of where the nest was found, and the Naga boy, who found it
told me he saw the male bird taking food to the female as she sat on
the nest.
The eggs, of which, as I have already said, there were three, were
very large in proportion to the size of the bird, measuring respectively
67” x °50", -66"” X -50”", and -65” x °51”. One egg appears to be
quite pure white, unless it is very closely and carefully examined,
when afew excessively minute, pale reddish marks may be discovered
about the larger end; another egg has these marks quite distinct,
though still very few in number and very tiny; the third has the
marks somewhat more numerous, decidedly larger, so much so that
some of them indeed might almost be designated blotches. They
are of the same pale reddish-brown as in the other eggs, and
they form a very ill-defined ring at the very extremity of the
322 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
larger end, whilst about a dozen or so freckles are scattered about
the rest of the egg. The surface of the eggs is close, hard, and
rather glossy, and the shell is decidedly stout. In shape they are
rather broad ovals, considerably depressed and pointed towards the
smaller end.
When taken the eggs were perfectly fresh.
I examined the stomach of the bird, which was trapped on the
nest, and found it to contain a few ants and a mass of small bright
blue beetles of a kind which seem to be very numerous on the
flowers of orchids growing near the ground.
ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES
FROM THE INDO-MALAYAN REGION.
By Lionet DE Nice’vinzez, F. BH. S., C. M. Z. S., &e.
(With Plates H, I and J.)
Family NYMPHALIDA.
Subfamily SatyRinz.
1. RAGADIA CRITOLAUS, n. sp. Pl. H, Fig. 1, ¢.
Hasitat: Burma.
Hxpanse: ¢, 1:0 to 1-7 ; 9, 1-6 inches.
Description: Maz. Uppzrsipe, both wings with the ground-
colour about equally divided between black and white. Forewing
with the white area commencing on the inner margin about half its
length from the base of the wing and almost reaching the anal
angle, extending towards the apex of the wing, which it does not
reach, in a triangular or wedge-shaped figure, bearing a series of
five round black spots between the veins, of which the three posterior
ones are well-formed and separated, the two anterior ones have
their outer edges more or less merged into the outer black border of
the wing; the base of the wing is occupied very obliquely by two
streaks a little darker than the blackish ground-colour ; there is also
9 NrcEvVILLE,Journ.Bomb.Nat.Hist. Soc.
Pir
——d
Chuckrabutty del
INDO-MALAYAN
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Mintern Bros. Chromo lth.London.
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MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES:
INDO
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Z
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TTT
G.C Chuckrabutty del. Mintern Bros. Chromo lith. London.
INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES.
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 323
a narrow whitish streak below the costa ; the outer margin is broadly
black, with its inner edge festooned. Hindwing with the dusky
basal area crossed by two straight dark lines ; a broad discal black
band touching the costa but not quite reaching the abdominal
margin, broadest in the middle, narrowing towards both ends ; the
outer margin broadly black, bearing a slightly paler line. Unpzr-
sIDE, both wings precisely as in Rt. crito, mihi,* from Bhutan, but all
the black bands narrower, the white ground being consequently
more extensive. Hrmate differs from the male only in its slightly
broader and more rounded wings.
Nearest to R. crito, from which it may be known at a glance by
the greater extent of the white ground-colour on the upperside of
both wings, that character will also separate it from R. crisilda
Hewitson, equally well, which from the figure I judge the type
specimen to be taken from a female, and it differs markedly
from the same sex of FR. critolaus in having on the upperside of both
wings the outer discal black band (which on the underside bears the
ocelli) twice as broad, thus considerably reducing the white area on
each side of it. R. latifasciata, Leech, t+ from Moupin, Western
China, is also an allied species, but from the description differs in
several details of the markings, and is much larger.
Major C. T. Bingham and I captured this species in considerable
numbers in October, 1891, and 1892, in the virgin forests at the
foot of the Daunat Range, Middle Tenasserim. ‘The butterfly always
keeps in the shade of the great trees, and flies amongst the bushes
and brushwood, on which it often settles. Its flight is only equalled
in weakness and gentleness by Leptosia viphia, Fabricius.
Subfamily ELvymniun#,
2. DYCTIS ESACOIDES, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 2, ¢.
Hasirar: Perak, Malay Peninsula; Battak Mountains, Sumatra.
ExPaNsE: ¢, 2°6 inches.
Description: Mae. Upprrsipe, both wings very deep indigo-
* Journ. Bombay Natural History Society, vol. v, p. 199, n, 1, pl. D, figs. 1, male;
2, female (1890).
+ The Entomologist, vol. xxiv, Suppl. p. 25 (1891).
324 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
blue, paler towards the base. Forewing with a curved decreasing
marginal bluish-grey band, broadest at the costa, continuous as far as
the third median nervule, posteriorly broken up into three large
rounded inwardly-pointed spots. Hindwing with a series of large
lunular bluish-grey spots placed on the margin, one in each interspace.
UnveERsIDE, both wings fuscous, very thickly reticulated with black,
the mottling coarser on the hindwing. Forewing with the ground-
colour of the apical half of the wing pale violet; an oval black spot
towards the outer margin in the upper discoidal interspace. Hind-
wing with a submarginal series of six round black spots, pupilled
with white, the two anterior ones the largest, the fourth very
minute, the one in the submedian interspace geminated ; in the
submedian and internal interspaces, especially towards the base of the
wing, are some large vermilion-coloured blotches, which take the
place of the fuscous ground-colour.
Nearest to D. esuca, Westwood, whichis known to me by Professor
Westwood’s short description only, and by Mr. Hewitson’s figure.
These two writers give the habitat of that species as the Hast Indies,
and Mr. Butler says that the type specimen came from Assam, and was
collected by Mr. Warwick. Messrs. Wallace and Moore record it from
Borneo. D. esacoides differs from D. esaca in the colour of the ground
of the upperside. The underside also differsin coloration, being
fuscous irrorated with black instead of red-brown as described and
fizured by Hewitson, and markedly in the presence of the vermilion-
coloured blotches on the abdominal area of the hindwing, these being
entirely absent in D.esaca. It also differs from the type of D. andersonii,
Moore, from the Mergui Archipelago, in its larger size, darker color-
ation, especially on the underside, the latter possessing a well-marked
whitish exterior marginal area to the hindwing, which is wholly
lacking in D. esacoides. From Herr Georg Semper’s figure of the
male of D. egialina, Felder, in his work on-the Butterflies of the
Philippine Islands, pl. xii, figs. 7, 8, D. esacoides would appear to be
an allied species, differing however in possessing a black spot on the
underside of the forewing near the apex, and lacking the series of
white spots towards the outer margin on the underside of the hind-
wing which are found in D. egialina. The female of D. egialina is
ficured by Felder in Reise Novara, Lep., pl. la, figs. 7, 8, and is
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 325
evidently allied to Z. godferyi, Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 423,n. 10,
pl. xxxix, fig. 5, female (1886), and, but for the fact that Mr. Distant
says he possesses males of the latter species from North Borneo, and
describes them as being very similar to the female, while D. esacoides
s markedly different both in coloration and markings, I should have
come to the conclusion that Z. godferyi was the female and D. esacoide,
the male of one and the same species.
Described from a single specimen collected in Perak by Mr. J.
Wray, Jr., and kindly presented to me by him. Dr. L. Martin, of
Deli, Sumatra, has sent me a coloured drawing of two specimens
of this species taken by him in that island in the Battak mountains,
which appears to agree absolutely with the type.
Subfamily Morpuin®.
3. DISCOPHORA DIS, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 3, ¢.
Hasirar: Deli, N.-E. Sumatra, Borneo.
EXPANSE: 6, 3°9; 92, 4:2 inches.
Description : Mare. Upprrsive, both wings rich dark indigo-
blue, somewhat paler towards the margins, tinted with ferruginous
at the base, Forewing with a curved discal macular band, consisting
of five shining light blue spots, the uppermost in the upper discoidal
interspace squarish and whitish ; the spot posterior to this occupy-
ing the whole breadth of the interspace ; the two following highly
lunulated ; the posterior spot of all incomplete, consisting of the
anterior half ofa lunule only ; beyond the discal is.a submarginal
series of four spots, the uppermost in the lower discoidal interspace
rounded, the three following lunular. Hindwing with the costa
broadly pale, the usual discal velvety black spot. Unpsrsipr,
both wings precisely asin D. celinde, Stoll, but the ground-colour
of a darker and richer shade. Frmatx. Almost precisely similar
to the same sex of D. celinde, but the inner edge of the broad
discal ochreous band a little nearer the disco-cellular nervules on
the uppERsiDE of the forewing; no ochreous discal spots posterior
to this band; the Aindwing darker than in D. celinde, lacking all
markings. Unpersipr, loth wings withthe ground-colour darker
than in D. celinde. fbi
As far as Ican discover, no species of Discophora has been described
as endemic to Sumatra, but Herr Georg Semper incidentally
326 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
mentions D. celinde, Stoll, and D. cheops, Felder, while Mr. Distant
cites D. sondaica, Boisduval, as occurring in that island. The latter
species belongs to the group of D. twllia, Cramer, whichis quite dis-
tinct from the group of D. celinde, Stoll. D. dis in the male is a
species abundantly distinct from any species of the latter group, a
list of which, as far as I have been able to make them out, is given
yal Ow ==
1. Discophora celinde, from Java (Stoll )=aristides, from the
Indies (Fabricius) =¢timora, from Timor (Doubleday and
Hewitson).
la. D. celinde, var. continentalis, from India (Staudinger).
1b. D. celinde, var. andamensis, from the South Andaman
Isles (Staudinger).
2. D. menetho, from India (Fabricius).
3. D. necho, from Java (Felder).
4. D. cheops, from Borneo (Felder).
5. D. dis, from Sumatra and Borneo (de Nicéville).
Go ID Ook, WROD sopco5n8008 (Hibner). Godart describes the
male of D. ogina from Java, but does not refer to the
species as being Hiibner’s. The latter figures a male,
while Semper figures a female from the Philippines
=melinda (teste Semper), from Luzon (Felder).
7. D. bambuse, from Halmaheira (Gilolo) (Felder)=celebensis
(teste Rothschild) from Celebes (Holland).
Nos. 6 and 7 of the above list differ from the other five species in
having more than two ocelli to the hindwing on the underside. The
genus sadly requires to be monographed; it is highly improbable
that all the species given above as distinct are really so. Both
Butler and Semper retain the D. menetho of Fabricius as distinct,
while Kirby and Distant place it as a synonym of D. celinde. If
Donovan’s figure of it (female) is correct, I possess a specimen from
Java agreeing closely with the figure, and the species appears to be
distinct from D. celinde.
D. dis is described from two pairs kindly sent me by Dr. L.
Martin, of Deli, Sumatra, and one male subsequently received from
Mons. A. de Plason, from Nanga Badau, Borneo (1886). Dr.
Martin has bred the larva on Jmperata arundinacea and Saccharum
“officinale (sugar-cane). The larve invariably keep in pairs.
NEW INDO-MALAYVAN BUTTERFLIES, 327
Family LYCAINID &.
4, PITHHCOPS BASSARIS, n. sp., Pl. H, Figs. 4, $; 5, 9.
Hasrrat: Ké Islands.
ExpansE: ¢, 1°25; 9, 1°40 inches.
Description: Mate. Uppersipn, forewing with the base and the
outer margin broadly black—the black basal portion extends to about
half the length of the discoidal cell, the outer black portion com-
mences near the costa a little beyond half its length from the base of
the wing, and sweeps round in a regular curve to the anal angle
where it is about a millimeter in breadth; the costa narrowly black ;
the rest of the wing pure white. Hindwing black all except a large
patch of pure white which occupies the apex of the wing to about the
middle (or rather beyond) of the costa and extends on the dise as far
as the third median nervule. Unpersipx, forewing with a black
costal thread, the outer margin blackish, but less broadly so than on
the upperside, bearing a series of five increasing submarginal white
lunules, and a marginal series of very fine linear white spots.
Hindwing with a very large round intensely black spot on the costa just
before its middle, the outer margin broadly black not reaching the
apex, decreasing somewhat towards the anal angle, bearing a series
of white lunules and another of white spots much as in the forewing,
these two series of markings almost coalescing and thus giving the
appearance of a series of marginal round black spots incompletely
surrounded each by a white line. Frmarz. Differs from the male
in being larger and blacker. Forewing with the costa broadly black,
the black area reaching as far as the subcostal nervure; the outer
black area much larger, being about three millimeters wide at the
anal angle. Hindwing as in the male. UNpErstpxE, both wings
with the white markings in the outer black marginal area more
prominent. Antenne black, the shaft prominently spotted (not
_annulated) with white below.
From P. dionisius, Boisduval, * as figured by Mr. Druce, both
* Lycena dionisius, Boisduval, Dumont D’Urville’s Voyage de |’Astrolabe, Faune
Ent., pt. i,p. 82, n. 11 (1832); Pithecops dionisius, Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.),
1891, p. 358, pl. xxxi, fig. i, from New Guinea and the Solomon Isles (Druce) ; Aru,
Islands and Batjan (Ribbe); Hupsychellus dionisius, Rober, Tijd. voor Hnt., vol.
xxxiv, p. 316 (1891), from Ceram, Goram, and Key.
43
328 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
sexes (but more especially the female) differ in having the black area
more extensive on the upperside of the forewing, and on both wings
on the underside. It differs from P. dionisius, var. steirema, Druce,*
in having in both sexes the white area of the hindwing on the
upperside very much larger, extending to the third median nervule,
while in P. steirema it reaches to the second subcostal nervule only ;
P. bassaris also lacks the small black spots on the costal margin of the
forewing on the underside found in both P. dionisius and P. steirema.
In Pithecops hylax, Fabricius, the first subcostal nervule is entirely
anastomosed with the costal nervure except a short portion of the
base which is free. In the male of P. bassaris the first subcostal
nervule appears to cut straight through the costal nervure instead of
anastomosing with it, while in the female it anastomoses for a short
distance, and then again becomes free and reaches the costa. Herr
Rober’s genus Hupsychellus proposed for L. dionisius should I think
fall before Pithecops.
Described from five male and one female specimen kindly
presented to me by Herr Georg Semper of Altona.
5. COYANERIS CHYX: mn. sp.) Il Ei iics: 6,05 eee
Hapirat: Java.
ExpansE: ¢, 9, 12 inches.
Description: Mats. Upprrsine, both wings somewhat pale blue.
Forewing with the costa very narrowly, the outer margin more
widely but decreasingly towards the anal angle black; an obscure
irrotated patch of white on the disc between the median nervules.
Cilia at the apex black, becoming white at the anal angle. Hindwing
with the outer two-thirds white, glossed with blue im some lights,
crossed by the dark veins; a series of obscure small round dusky
spots on the outer margin, one in each interspace. Cilia pure white,
bounded within by a very fine black thread. UwNbERs1pE, both wings
white, of a slightly bluish shade. Forewing with a narrow dusky
line defining the disco-cellular nervules; a curved discal series of
five spots, and a similar number of smaller rounded marginal spots.
* Pithecops steirewa, Druce, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., sixth series, vol. v, p. 25,
n, 3 (1890); P. dionisius, var. steirema, id., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1891, p. 358,
pl. xxxi, fig. 4, from the Solomon Isles (Druce).
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 329
Hindwing with the usual spots scattered over the disc, but all very
small; a marginal series of seven small round prominent spots.
FremaLe. Upprrsine, forewing with the outer black margin very
much wider than in the male. Hinitwing with the costa broadly
dusky. Otherwise similar to the male.
Perhaps nearest to C. akasa, Horsfield, from South India, Ceylon,
Java, and Sambawa, from which it differs in the far greater extent
and different shade of blue on the upperside, and the narrower outer
black border to the forewing : the two species agree absolutely on
the underside, It is also near to CO. alboceruleus, Moore, from the
Khasi Hills and Himalayas, but has more blue coloration and a
narrower black border on the forewing on the upperside.
At present the genus Cyaniris is represented in my collection by
five species only from Java, wiz.:—C. akasa, Horsfield, C. puspa,
Horsfield, C. huegelii, Moore, apparently identical with Western
Himalayan specimens, C. coalita, de Nicéville, and C. ceyx, de
Nicéville. Mr. Doherty speaks of capturing seven species in the
mountains of Hastern Java.*
C. ceyx is described from two male and one female specimen sent
to me by Heer M. C. Piepers.
6. ARHOPALA ACE, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 13, ¢.
Hasitat: Perak, Malay Peninsula.
ExpansE: 6, 1°9,
DescrRIpTION: Mare. Uprersipg, both wings rich violet-blue,t
the outer margins very narrowly black. Hindwing with the costa
broadly black, the abdominal margin fuscous; the anal lobe small,
black ; the tail moderately long, black tipped with white. Unpsr-
sIpE, both wings dull fuscous- or hair-brown, without any gloss, all
the macular markings but very slightly darker than the ground-
colour, their outer whitish narrow bounding lines alone somewhat
prominent. Forewing with the three usual increasing spots in the
discoidal cell and two below it divided by the first median nervule ;
the discal band broad, consisting of six portions, the two lower
* Journ. A. S. B., vol. lviii, pt. 2, p. 485 (1889).
+ Of the exact shade of the male of the extremely common butterfly from Singa-
pore, which I have identified a little doubtfully as Arhopala aroa, Hewitson.
330 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892.
portions in one straight line but dislocated and shifted towards the
base of the wing posterior to the third median nervule; the four
upper portions of almost equal size, and all but the anteriormost
smallest portion (which is shifted inwardly) in one straight line; an
obscure submarginal fascia ; inner margin of the wing as far as the
first median nervule rather paler than the rest of the surface.
Hindwing with the markings as usual; the anal lobe and spot
beyond the base of the tail small and black ; the anal area somewhat
extensively sprinkled with dull metallic green scales.
A. ace appears to be nearest to A. adorea, mihi, from typical
specimens of which from. Singapore it differs in the ground-colour of
the upperside being rich violet- (almost ultramarine-) blue instead
of deep bluish-purple, the outer black margins even narrower, the
ground-colour of the underside much duller brown, the spots and
bands but very slightly darker than the ground-colour, and the
forewing lacks the costal spot anterior to the spot at the end of the
discoidal cell. From A. aroa, Hewitson (as identified by me), it may
be known by its larger size, and by the same differences on the
underside as are found between it and A. adorea.
Described from a single example from Perak kindly given to me
by Mr. J. Wray, Jr.
7. ARHOPALA ACESTES, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 14, ¢.
Hasirat: Perak.
EXPANsE: ¢, 20 inches.
Description : Matz. Uppsrstpx, both wings very deep violet-blue
of the exact shade found in the male of A. diardi, Hewitson, from the
Khasi Hills, and agreeing therewith also in size and outline, except
that .A. acestes lacks the tooth-like projections from both sides of the
tail of the hindwing seen in A. diardi, and the tail is longer and nar-
rower; outer margins very narrowly black. Hindwing with the costa
and abdominal margin broadly black ; anal lobe very small ; tail of
moderate length, black tipped with white. UnpxrsipE, both wings
rich brown, very strongly, especiaily on the hindwing, glossed with
purple ; all the markings prominent, darker than the ground-colour,
outwardly defined with grey tinted with the purple gloss. Forewing
with the inner margin as far as the submedian nervure grey, witha large
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 331
patch of grey also in the interno-median interspace, sharply inwardly
defined opposite the origin of the first median nervule by the waved
outer margin of the patch of the ground-colour which occupies the
basal half of the interno-median interspace ; the usual three increasing
spots in the discoidal cell, a spot at the base of the first median inter-
space, a discal band of five spots, the upper three of equal size, in one
straight line, the lower two a little larger, increasing, slightly shifted
inwardly ; a well-marked distinct submarginal series of six quadrate
spots, each spot defined on both sides with whitish. Hindwing with
the four anterior basal spots very prominent, the discal spots and bands
as usual, a well-marked submarginal series of five spots, followed by
three jet-black spots broadly crowned with rich metallic green scales.
This is a very beautiful and distinct species, startlingly like A.
diardi on the upperside, but like no species with which I am acquainted
on the underside. The absence of any costal spots on the forewing
allies it to A. ace, mihi, to A. ate, Hewitson, and to figs. 29 and 30
of A. adatha, Hewitson, but the purple glossing of the underside will
instantly distinguish it from all these species, but apparently allies
it to A. achelous, Hewitson (a species I have not seen) ; the latter,
however, has three costal spots to the forewing on the underside.
Described from a single specimen from Perak kindly presented to
me by Mr. J. Wray, Jr.
8. ARHOPALA ARCA, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 15, 9.
Hasrrat: Celebes,
Expanse: 9, 1°9 inches.
Description: Femate. Uppersipn, both wings shining purplish-
fuscons, bronzy in some lights. Forewing with the discoidal cell
entirely light non-iridescent blue, two similar narrow streaks in the
median interspaces reaching half-way to the margin, and the area
behind the discoidal cell as far as the inner margin of the same
colour, filling the basal half of the interspace. Czlia anteriorly
fuscous, posteriorly from the first median nervule white. Hindwing
with the discoidal cell and the area immediately around it blue ;
with three tails, all tipped with white, the one at the termination of
the first median nervule long, the others, one on each side of the
long tail, short. Cilia white. Unpursipn, both wings creamy-white.' .
332. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Forewing with the costal and basal areas entirely rich dark brown, a
very broad even brown band occupying the end of the discoidal
cell and extending a considerable distance beyond it, commencing
in the dark costal area and ending abruptly on the first median
nervule, this disco-cellular band is separated from the basal area
by a very narrow streak of the ground-colour; a very broad (as
broad as the disco-cellular band) discal band, commencing on the
costa, ending on the first median nervule, below which in the sub-
median interspace is a diffused dark spot; a narrow submarginal
band, an anteciliary dark line. Mindwing with a broad rich dark
brown basal area sharply defined against the creamy-white ground-
colour; a double line defining the disco-cellular nervules, with two
round spots in continuation one each in the median interspaces ;
beyond these is another broad dark brown area, which reaches
almost to the outer margin, and bears inwardly traces of the usual
discal maculated band; a lunular deep black spot on the margin in
the first median interspace crowned with metallic green scales ;
some similar scales in the interspace behind; the anal lobe small,
bearing a round deep black spot also crowned with metallic green
scales; an anteciliary black line.
This very beautiful and distinct species clearly belongs to the
group of which A. apidanus, Cramer, which occurs in Burma, the
Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Billitan, and Sambawa, is
the type, and to which the “ Flos” artegal, Doherty, from Burma
and Perak, and ‘ Flos”? ahamus, Doherty, from Margherita in
- Upper Assam, are allies. The latter species may indeed be synony-
mous with A. apidanus. A. area is however quite distinct from any
of these, having the discal band of the forewing on the underside
at least twice as wide, and the dark basal area of both wings
strongly contrasted with the creamy-white ground-colour beyond;
in A. apidanus the ground-colour is much darker. The strongly
contrasted colours of the underside is a marked feature in the
hindwing of “ Panchala” morphina, Distant, from Perak im the
the Malay Peninsula, an otherwise abundantly distinct tailless
species. A. arca differs also from A. apidanus and allies in having
the blue coloration of the upperside far more restricted, and in the
prominently white cilia.
NEW INDO-MALAYVAN BUTTERFLIES. 333
Described from a single specimen received from Heer M. C.
Piepers, of Batavia, Java.
9. ARHOPALA ASIA, n. sp., Pl. H; Fig. 16, ¢.
Hasrrat: Quang, Malay Peninsula.
Expranse: ¢, 1°8 inches.
Description: Matz. Urrrrsipe, both wings deep dull purple with-
out any gloss. Forewing with the costa and outer margin most
narrowly black. Hindwing with the outer margin most narrowly
black, the abdominal margin up to the submedian nervure fuscous.
Unperstpe, both wings dull pale brown,all the markings inconspicuous,
of a slightly darker colour than the ground, outwardly defined with
gray. Forewing with a small round spot towards the base of the
discoidal cell, a larger oval one acrossits middle, a quadrate one
‘at its end, a spot at the base of the first median interspace, a
broad regular discal band consisting of seven spots, gradually in-
creasing to the sixth spot, the seventh in the interno-median inter-
space small; an indistinct submarginal fascia. Hindwing with six
rounded basal spots, an oblong spot at the end of the cell, the usual
macular discal band, recurved posteriorly to the abdominal margin ;
a double series of submarginal lunules, faint traces of metallic blue
scales on the margin in the first median interspace, and a large patch
of similar scales at the anal angle, a small deep black round spot
on the small anal lobe.
This belongs to a very difficult group of the genus, all the species
of which are tailless. It appears to be very close to A. amphimuta,
Felder, which is known to me by the description and figure of the
underside only, and with which it appears to agree on the upper-
side, but differs on the underside of the forewing in having the inner
margin very slightly paler instead of much paler than the rest of the
surface, the discal band also much more extended at each end and
not prominently dislocated at the first median nervule.
Described from a single example in my collection.
10. ARHOPALA AETA, n. Spa, blo Eis Bigs) Zanor
Hasitat: Burma.
Expanse: 9, 1°6 inches.
334 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Description: Frmae. Uprersipe, both wings bluish-purple.
Forewing with the costa broadly reaching to the subcostal nervure,
a prominent tooth-shaped mark at the end of the discoidal cell, and
the outer margin (widest at the apex) broadly fuscous. Hindwing
with more than half the surface dull brownish-fuscous, the purple
coloration hardly extending beyond the discoidal cell. Unpmrsrps,
both wings grey, the markings dark brown, outwardly defined with
whitish of a lighter shade than the grey ground-colour. Forewing
with a small oval: spot towards the base of the cell, a larger one at
its middle, a still larger increasing one at its end which is continued
widely to the first median nervule, filling the bases of the median
interspaces ; a large dark brown patch occupying the basal half
of the interno-median interspace, its outer edge sharply defined
and inclined inwardly obliquely; a broad even almost straight
discal unbroken macular fascia, commencing on the costa, ending
on the first median nervule; a very indistinct pale brown spot
inwardly below it in the interno-median interspace; a broad well-
marked increasing submarginal fascia. Hindwing with all the
macular markings paler than in the forewing, but standing out
particularly clearly on the gray ground, small, arranged as usual ;
a well-marked lunulated submarginal fascia, broad anterior to,
narrow posterior to, the second median nervule; no anal lobe,
metallic anal sprinklings, or tail, but the apices of allthe veins
slightly extended beyond the general outline of the outer margin of
the wing, the apex of the first median nervule slightly more
produced tooth-like than the rest.
On the upperside, omitting the lack of tail, this species very
closely resembles the same sex of A. rama, Kollar; on the underside
itis most like A. dodoncea, Moore, but is whiter and with no
silky gloss whatever, the markings more prominent, especially
on the hindwing. To judge from the description and figure
alone it is nearest to A. asopia, Hewitson, from Maulmain,
which, as described, has the ground-colour of the underside
“‘rufous,” but is perhaps better defined as “of a very unusual
tint of reddish-ochreous,” all the markings less distinct than in
A. weta.
Described from a single example captured in June in the
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES, 335
Thaungyin Valley, Middle Tenasserim, by Major 0. T. Bingham,
who has generously presented the specimen to me.
11. THECLA LEECHII, n. sp.
Hasirat: Khasi Hills (Hamilton) ; Western China (Leech).
In the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, vol. vi,
p. 374 et seq., pl. F, fig. 17 (1891), I described and figured the
female of a species of Satsuma (=Thecla) from the Khasi Hills, but
did not name it, as my unique specimen was damaged. I have
since received another female in perfect condition from the same
region through the kindness of the Rev. Walter A. Hamilton, and
propose now to name the species Thecla leechi after my friend
Mr. J. H. Leech, the author of many papers on palearctic Lepidop-
tera, and of “Butterflies from China, Japan, and Corea.” He
informs me that the species occurs also in Western China, and that
it is quite distinct from Thecla (Satsuma) chalybeia, Leech, and
T. (S.) prattt, Leech, both of which were described from unique
male examples.
My friend Heer P. C. T. Snellen of Rotterdam is quite of my
opinion that Satsuma is a genus which should be sunk under
Thecla, and writes to me that Thecla frivaldszkyi, of Lederer, which
is the type of Satswma, agrees absolutely in structure with the
British ‘Green Hairstreak,”’ Thecla rubi, Linneas.
12. CAMENA CARMENTALIS, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 10, 3.
Hapitat: Khasi Hills.
Expanse: 6, 1°25 inches.
Description: Mate. Uppursipn, both wingsblack. Forewing with
the whole of the discoidal cell, a considerable area at the base of
the first median interspace, and the interno-median and sutural
areas to near the outer margin shining bluish-purple. Hindwing
with a large glossy black patch from the costal base of the wing
occupying the whole of the discoidal cell; the disc shining bluish-
purple ; the anal lobe bearing a deep black spot, outwardly with a
few turquoise-blue scales, anteriorly broadly crowned with dull
ochreous. Tails black, tipped with white. Uwnpsrsipx, both wings
French-grey washed with ochreous; a very fine indistinct discal
44
336 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
dark line, outwardly defined with whitish, broken and lunulated in
the hindwing; an obsolete marginal fascia, Forewing with the usual
tuft of lon @ setee attached to the inner margin and turned under and
backwards concolorous with the ground-colour. Hindwing with
the usual oval black spot on the outer margin in the first median
interspace, very broadly surrounded with ochreous, which colour
is continued in a lunulated line to the abdominal margin ; anal lobe
deep black outwardly bearing some metallic blue scales; a short
streak of metallic blue scales placed outwardly against the sub-
median nervure towards its termination; a fine black anteciliary
line inwardly defined by a narrow white line as far as the third
median nervule.
Near to @. lila, Moore, from Sylhet, but much smaller (1°25 as
against J°80 inches), this species being known to me by the descrip-
tion and figure only ; the bluish-purple area reaching to nearer the
outer margin on the upperside of the forewing ; the discal line on the
underside much less prominent than in some specimens of O. deva,
Moore, C. lila being said to have this line ‘‘much more prominent” —
this, however, is probably a variable character. Also near to
C. ister, Hewitson, from “ India,” the female of which onlyis known,
and which is described as being cerulean-blue on the upperside
of both wings, that colour on the hindwing reaching much closer
to the outer margin than in C. carmentalis. The underside of the
two species agree very closely, and C. carmentalis is not improbably
the opposite sex of C. ister, unless the latter should be, as I have
supposed, a varietal form of the female of C. cleobis, Godart.
Described from two examples from the Khasi Hills kindly given
to me by the Rey. Walter A. Hamilton, by whose native collectors
they were obtained.
EP WAIVE bay GMelGle iy eyo, Jel, Tel, iste, IL e.
Hapirar: Khasi Hills.
Expanse: ¢, 1:5 inches.
Description: Marre. Uprxrsipe, both wings black. Forewing with
the posterior half of the discoidal cell, a small portion of the base
of the first median interspace, and the interno-median and sutural
areas to near the outer margin bluish-purple of the same shade as
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 337
in 7. dieus, Hewitson. Hindwing with all except the costa broadly
and the abdominal margin (which latter is grey) bluish-purple ;
. a very small black anal lobe; the outer margin very narrow ly
black. Tails black, tipped with white. Unversipg, both wings
French-grey; a fine anteciliary black thread. Forewing with a fine
discal straight broken blackish line, ending anteriorly on the sub-
costal, posteriorly on the submedian nervure; an indistinct submar roinal
pale broken line. Hindwing with a much broken discal line, poste-
riorly recurved to the abdominal margin; a submarginal pale broken
line; a marginal white line from the anal angle to the third
median nervule; an oval deep black spot near the outer margin in
the first median interspace, surrounded by an ochreous ring ; Bs
lunular marks in the submedian interspace made up of mixed black
and blue scales ; a small deep black spot on the anal lobe, outwardly
bearing a few turquoise-blue scales, anteriorly defined with a small
rich ochreous patch.:
Near to T. dieus, Hewitson, from the Western Himalayas, Sikkim
and Khasi Hills, from which it differs on the underside in the discal line
of the forewing being broken and not reaching the costa, that line
on the hindwing also being broken and placed nearer to and parallel
with the outer margin. Still nearer to 7. albiplaga, mihi, from
Sikkim, differing therefromin the purplish-blue instead of cerulean-
blue of the upperside of both wings ; the much smaller extent of the
blue colour on the forewing; and on the underside of both wings
in the absence of the dark lines defining the disco-cellular nervules,
Described from a single example kindly placed at my disposal by the
Rev. Walter A. Hamilton, by whose native collectors it was obtained.
14. SUASA SUESSA, n. sp., Pl. H, Figs. 8, 8; 9, 9.
Hasirat : Perak, Selangor—both in the Malay Peninsula.
ixpAnse: 6S to 1-0; @, 1-1 mch.
Description: Marz. Uprrrsipn, both wings bronzy-fuscous. Fore-
wing with the basal area bluish-violet, this area anteriorly bounded
by the subcostal nurvure, posteriorly reaching to the inner margin,
Cilia fuscous, becoming white at the anal angle. Hindwing with
the posterior two-thirds bluish-violet ; a large rounded spot on the
outer margin in the first median interspace, the anal lobe, and a spot
338 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1272.
placed between them but a little removed from the margin, all deep
black; a black anteciliary thread from the anal angle to the second
median nervule. Cilia white. Tails white, anteriorly black in the -
middle. Unprrsipx, both wings of the purestchina white. Forewing
with the apical third of the wing ochreous, bearing inwardly a band
of the ground-colour from the inner margin to the lower discoidal
nervule, and a short white line beyond in the submedian interspace.
Hindwing with two prominent round subcostal black spots, the imner
' the larger; two fine broken submarginal black threads, the outer
consisting of five detached portions, one in each interspace from
the costa to the second median nervule, the inner continuous,
extending from the first subcostal nervule to the internal nervyure;
the three black spots at the anal angle as on the upperside ; a fine
black: line extends from just above the anal lobe to the abdominal
margins. Fumate. Urpzrsipe, both wings shining brown. Forewing
unmarked. Hindwing with the anal area broadly white, the inner
edge of this area scalloped, bearing the three black spots and
the black anteciliary thread as in the male. UNDERSIDE, forewing
as in the male. Hindwing lacking the internal of the subcostal
black spots, otherwise as in the male.
Closely allied to 8. Jisides, Hewitson, which occurs in Sylhet,
the Khasi Hills, the Tenasserim Valley, and the Mergui Archipelago,
being replaced apparently to the southwards by the above-described
species, which differs from it in the entire absence in both sexes of the
rufous area on the upperside of the forewing. In “ The Butterflies
of India, Burmah and Ceylon,” vol.. iii, p. 387, n. 942 (1890), I
identified the type female of J. swessa as an aberrational form of
S. lisides, and described it as follows :—“ A female from Selangor in
the Malay Peninsula differs from two females from Burma in having
the upperside of the forewing entirely smoky-brown, the orange
patch being wholly wanting; on the hindwing the white irroration
at the anal angle is much reduced.”
Described from two male examples from Perak, and a female
from Selangor.
15. DHUDORIX GATULIA, n. sp., Pl. H, Fig. 12, é.
Hasirat: Khasi Hills.
Expanse: ¢, 1:9 inches.
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 339
Description: Mate. Urrersips, both wings black, glossed in certain
lights over the black area with rich purple. Cilia black. Forewing
with a large triangular coppery-red discal area, anteriorly bounded
by the median nervure and third median nervule, posteriorly by the
submedian nervure, its outer edge irregular, well removed from
the outer margin. Hindwing with all except the costa broadly, the
base, the abdominal margin broadly, and the outer margin narrowly
coppery-red, the veins crossing the red area being black ; anal lole
coppery-red ; tail black, tipped with white. UnprErsinz, both wings
fawn-colour with a somewhat silvery sheen, especially on the
hindwing ; the disco-cellular nervules marked on both sides by a
fine white line ; a narrow outer-discal catenulated band composed of
oval spots a little darker than the ground-colour, outwardly defined
with white, the portion of the band on the forewing nearly straight,
anteriorly ending on the upper discoidal nervule, posteriorly on the
submedian nervure; on the hindwing the band is very irregular
and broken, posteriorly recurved and terminating on the abdominal
margin. Hindwing with a large round black spot near the outer
margin in the first median interspace, interiorly broadly surrounded
by orange colour; anal lobe black; a very fine black anteciliary
thread, bounded on each side by an equally fine white thread. Antenne
black, beneath towards the club white, and slightly marked with
whitish at the joints for a short distance posterior to the white
portion, the remains of obsolescent annulations. Head black ; the
face and a line round the eyes white. Palpi white below, black
above, the third joint entirely black. Thorav above black, beneath
white. Abdomen anteriorly black, posteriorly coppery-red above,
beneath pale ochreous.
Nearest to D. epijarbas, Moore, from which it differs on the
upperside of the forewing in having that portion of the coppery-red
area in the interno-median interspace posteriorly cut away; on the
hindwing in having a well defined outer black margin, in D, eprjarbas
the black margin is reduced to a mere thread ; the anal lobe also is
entirely red—in D. epijarbas itis ochreous, bearing a black spot in
the middle, this latter marked outwardly with some metallic turquoise-
blue scales; on the underside the ground-colour is different, being
hair-brown in D. epyjarbas, and fawn-colour strongly washed with
340 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
silvery in D. getulia; the lines defining the disco-cellular nervules
and those forming the discal band much closer together ; there are
also no metallic green scales on the outer margin of the hindwing
in the first median interspace and anterior to the anal lobe usually
found in D. epijarbas. It is also allied to D. diovis, Hewitson, from
Australia, to D. woodfordi, Druce,* and to D. viridens, Druce,t both
from the Solomon Islands, but the broad black margin to the hind-
wing onthe upperside and the entirely red anal lobe will at once
distinguish it from those species. Another allied species is the
D. calderon of Kheil,t from Nias Island, but it has the scarlet areas
on the upperside smaller, and from the description there does not
appear to be any discal fascia on the underside of the forewing.
Still other allied species are D. ribbei, Rober,§ and D. ajjinis,
Rober,|| both from South Celebes, but the former has far more,
while the latter has considerably less, scarlet on the upperside of
both wings than D. getulia.
Described from two specimens, one (the wings of which have
been placed between tale) in the collection of the Rev. Walter
H. Hamilton, the other in my own collection, and kindly presented
to me by that gentleman, both obtained in the Khasi Hills by
Mr. Hamilton’s native collectors.
P. S.—Since the above was written I have seen the MS. type male
specimen of Mr. Elwes’ “ Rapala” hypargyrta from the Karen Hills,
East Pegu. On the upperside of the forewing in D. getulia the
coppery-red discal area extends just anterior to the third median
nervule, in “&.” hypargyria it barely reaches that vein ; on the
hindwing in D. getulia the anal lobe is coppery-red, in “ fi.”
hypargyria it is jet-black crowned with snow-white. On the under-
side “ R.” hypargyria is paler, much more silvery-white, on the
forewing there are no disco-cellular lines or discal macular band, and
on the hindwing also the disco-cellular lines are absent, and the
* Deudoryx woodfordi, Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc., Lond., 1891, p. 371, pl. xxxii, figs. 13,
male ; 14, female.
+ Deudoryx viridens, Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc., Lond., 1891, p. 371, pl. xxxii, fig. 15,
males
{ D. calderon, Kheil, Rhop. Insel Nias, p. 33, n. 116, pl. iv, fig. 25, male (1884).
§ D. ribbei, Rober, Iris, vol. i, p. 68, pl. v, figs 11, male; 10, female (1886).
|| D. afinis, Rober, Iris, vol. i, p. 69, pl. v, figs. 13, male; 8, female (1885).
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 341
discal band much shorter, reduced to three spots one each in the
discoidal and median interspaces and the recurved abdominal portion,
the black submarginal spot in the first median interspace not crowned
with orange. The two species are closely allied, but are, I believe,
distinct—at any rate the type specimens can be separated at a
glance.
Family PAPILIONIDA.
Subfamily Prerina.
16. METAPORIA HARRIETA, n. sp,, Pl. I, Figs.3, $; 4, 9.
Hasirat: Bhutan.
Expanse: 3%, 2°9; 92, 8:0 inches.
Dzscrierion: Matz, Uprersipe, both wings black. Forewing
with a thin white streak at the base of the costa ; a large creamy-
white patch occupying the basal three-fourths of the discoidal cell,
its outer end produced toa point; a large patch occupying the
basal two-thirds of the interno-median interspace; a discal series
of five more or less oval spots curving evenly round the outer end
of the cell, of which the anterior one is rather elongated and narrow,
the three following are equal-sized elongated ovals, the posterior one
in the first median interspace is the largest and occupies the base
of the interspace; the outer margin bears, one on each interspace
at its middle, a series of somewhat diffused white spots. Hind-
wing has the veins on the basal half of the wing defined with white,
broadly margined on both sides with black; the discoidal cell
almost entirely creamy-white; there is a very narrow costal and a
wide subcostal streak, then five spots—one in each interspace—
beyond the cell,that in the second median interspace the smallest; two
elongated streaks in the submedian interspace, the inner one almost
reaching to the margin of the wing, the outer one reached to about
half way between the base of. the wing and the margin ; two basal
white streaks occupying the whole of the interspaces divided by
the internal nervure; marginal diffused spots as in the forewing,
but each spot divided into two portions by the black internervular
fold. Unpersive, forewing differs from the upperside only in having
on the outer margin from the costa to the second median nervule
a decreasing series of duplicated white streaks, one pair in
342 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
each interspace; a small white spot in the two following interspaces
Hindwing has at the extreme base of the wing within the precostal
nervure the usual bright yellow patch characteristic of the genus;
all the creamy-white markings of the upperside are pale yellow;
the markings differ from those on the upperside in the presence of
a pair of elongated wedge-shaped pale yellow streaks in each
interspace, each streak has its apex pointed, its base (which is
placed on the outer margin) broad. Cilia of both wings on both
sides black. Femate. Differs from the male only in being some-
what paler throughout.
This species belongs to a newly-discovered and rapidly-increasing
group of the genus which has lately been described by Messrs.
Charles Oberthiir and J. H. Leech, all the species of which occur
in Central and Western China.* I submitted the drawings of
M. harriete here reproduced to the former; m reply he kindly sends
me specimens of several of the allied species, and writes ‘‘ On my
part I am forced to believe that all these species—oberthuri, acrea,
larraldet, and their varieties—are only forms of one single very
variable species, which approaches phryze.’ Mr. Leech writes on
seeing the same drawings, “‘ Your species is nearest to my lotis, it
* Pieris larraldei, Oberthir, Etudes d’Ent., vol. ii, p. 19, n, 6, pl. i, figs. 2a, 28,
~ male (1876), from Moupin.
Pieris larraldei, Oberthiir, forma melania, Oberthiir, Etudes d’ Hnt., vol. XVi, p. 5,
pl. i, fig. 5, male (1892), from Ta-Tsien-Lou.
Pieris larraldei, Oberthur, forma nutans, Oberthtr, Etudes d’Ent., vol. xvi, p. 6,
pl. i, fig. 3 (1892), from Ta-pin-tze (Yunnan).
Pieris largeteaui, Oberthir, Etudes d’Ent., vol. vi, p. 12, n, 2, pl. vii, fig. 1, male
(1881), from Kouy-Tchéou, China. !
Pieris acrea, Oberthiir, Bull. Soc. Ent. France, sixth series, vol. v, p. ccxxvi (1885);
idem, id., Etudes d’Ent., vol. xi, p. 15, pl. ii, fig. 7, female (1886), from Thibet.
Pieris goutellei, Oberthiir, Etudes d’Ent., vol. xi, p. 15, pl. ii, fig. 11 (1886), from
Tsé-kou, Thibet.
Pieris oberthuri, Leech, The Entomologist. vol. xxiii, p. 46 (1890) ; id., Oberthiir,
Etudes d’Ent., vol. rvi, p.5, pl. i, fig. 2, male (1892), from Chang Yang, Central
China.
Pieris lotis, Leech, The Entomologist, vol. xxiii, p. 192 (1890), from Wa-shan and
Ta-Chien-Lu, North-West China.
Pieris hastata, Oberthiir, Etudes d’Ent., vol. xvi, p. 5, pl. i, fig. 6 (1892), from
Yunnan.
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 343
also has many characters in common with my oberthur7, but is quite
distinct from either. P. oberthuri is to be figured in the next part to
be issued of M. Oberthiir’s ‘Etudes d’Entomologie,’ of which
I have seen a proof of the plates, and both species will be figured
in my ‘ Butterflies from China, Japan, and Corea.’” As, therefore,
M. harriete is, as far as I can tell from the descriptions of
the allied species and the figures so far published, distinct
from all of them, I will not attempt a comparative description ;
when figures of all the species are available, it will be easy for any
one to distinguish between them for himself. In the sequel it
will, I think, probably be found that M. Oberthtr is right, and
that all these species will be found to be but geographical races of
one species, which grade almost imperceptibly one into the other as
do the Indian forms of the genus.
Described from a single pair obtained by Mr. F. A. Méller’s native
collectors in Bhutan, but the exact locality is unknown. Mr.
H. J. Elwes records a single specimen of Pieris ( Aporia) agathon,
Gray, from the interior towards Bhutan,* this being the only other
species of the genus hitherto known from this region. Mr. Moller
obtained at the same time as he received the M. harriete a single
male of M. agathon, so the two species (which belong to different
groups of the genus) appear to meet and occur together here.
Subfamily PaprLioninz&.
17. PAPILIO (Achillides) DISCORDIA, n. sp., Pl. I, Fig.2, é.
Hasirat: Gayces and Battak mountains, Sumatra,
EXpansn: g, 5°0 inches.
Description : Mate. Urrsrsipe, both wings deep black. Forewing
thickly and evenly sprinkled throughout with rich green-coloured
scales. Cilia black. Hindwing similarly sprinked, but with the area
between the large blue-green outer-discal patch and the three sub-
marginal green lunules free from the green sprinkling, as also is the
costal area as faras the first subcostal nervule; a large outer-discal
patch rich emerald-green in some lights and cobalt-blue in others, its
inner edge almost straight, slightly bowed inwards towards the base -
* Trans. Ent. Soc., Lond., 1888, p. 415, n. 374.
344 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOUIETY, 1892.
of the wing, separated from the outerend of the discoidal cell by about
three millemeters’ length ofthe groand-colour, not reaching the outer
margin between the first subcostal and discoidal nervules, anteriorly
bounded by the first subcostal nervule, anterior to which is a blue-
green lunule, the patch rapidly attenuated to the second median
nervule, beyond which it is continued to the abdominal margin
anterior to the red subanal ocellus by a narrow green curved line; the
subanal ocellus large, oval, dragon’s-blood-red coloured, bearing ante-
riorly a thin bluish-purple line, with a large central oval black spot,
three prominent submarginal green lunules extending one in each
interspace from the discoidal to the first median nervule. Tazl long;
rather narrow, slightly constricted anteriorly, sprinkled throughout
with rich green-coloured scales. Cilia black, white at the inter-
spacal incisures. UnprrsipE, both wings deep black. Forewing
with the anterior half of the cell and the costal area sparsely
sprinkled with ochreous scales ; a broad discal white fascia crossed
by the black veins and internervular folds, commencing widely on the
costa, rapidly attenuating to the anal angle, reaching almost to the
outer margin anteriorly, but posteriorly separated from it by about
two millimeters. Hindwing with the basal half of the wing sparsely
sprinkled with ochreous scales ; three submarginal ocelli like the sub-
anal one on the upperside, one in the costal interspace, and one each
in the first median and submedian interspaces; placed between these
are four red lunules, one in each interspace, inwardly defined by a
thin bluish-purple line. al sparsely sprinkled with dull greenish
scales. Antenne black. Head, thorax and abdomen black, sprinkled
thickly with rich green scales.
This species belongs to the group of P. paris, Linneus, from
which and also from P.tamilana, Moore, and P. arjuna, Horsfield,
it may be instantly distinguished by the large blue-green discal
patch on the upperside of the hindwing having its inner edge
straighter, the patch more attenuated posteriorly, and especially
by its being well separated from the outer end of the cell, in
all those species it extends into it; the three sabmarginal green
lunules are also much more prominent in P. discoidia; the red area
of the subanal ocellus is again much larger, the central oval black
portion half the size consequently. The forewing agrees best with
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 345
P. arjuna, of which species I possess specimens from Sumatra and
Java, but it has absolutely no trace of a discal light green fascia,
which fascia is barely traceable in P. arjuna, and is prominent in
P. paris and P. tamilana. On the underside of the hindwing the
red markings are also larger and more prominent. It is a much
larger insect than P. arjuna, which occurs with it.
Tam unable to follow Mr. A. R. Wallace’s remarks on P. arjund,
in Trans. Linn. Soc., London, vol. xxv, p. 46, n. 42 (1865), as my
Sumatra specimens agree absolutely with Javan ones, nor do these
remarks at all apply to P. discoidia.
Described from a single example sent to me by Dr. L. Martin,
of Deli, Sumatra.
18. PAPILIO (Paranticopsis) MACAREUS, Godart, Pl. I,
Fig. 1, 2.
P. macareus, Godart, Enc, Méth., vol. ix, p. 76, n. 144 (1819) ; id., Horsfield, Cat.
Lep. Mus. H. IL. C., pl. v, fig. 1 (1829) ; id., Elwes, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1888,
p. 431, n. 421.
I have figured a very remarkable male aberration or “sport” of
this species, which was obtained by Mr. F. A. Méller’s native
collectors in the spring of 1892 in Sikkim. On the upperside of
both wings the normal marginal series of spots—nine rounded ones
in the forewing ; one small and rounded at the anal angle, then four
lunulated spots, and lastly, one elongated spot, in the hindwing—
are entirely wanting, the discal series of elongated streaks being so
extended and prolonged as to include them; and in the forewing
the greenish-white markings in the discoidal cell consist of a
patch at the base, and a tripartite patch at the middle, instead of
having a small spot at the base, then three very outwardly-obliquely
placed lines across the middle, and two spots at the end of the cell
(sometimes conjoined) as is found in P. macareus ; the four rounded
spots immediately beyond the end of the cell in normal P. macareus
are in the specimen now figured joined to the short streaks beyond,
On the underside the markings are very much the same as above,
but are larger and more suffused.
Family HESPERIIDA.
19. ISMENE FERGUSONII, n. sp., Pl. J, Fig. 6, 3.
Hasirat: South India.
EXPANSE: 6, 2°2 to 2°5;, 2°5. 9
346 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Description: Mate. Upprrsipe, both wings bronzy shining hair-
brown. Forewing paler on the disc ; with the usual costal vermilion
streak, commencing at the base and reaching to about the middle of
the wing. (‘This streak is composed of highly deciduous scales, and
in many specimens otherwise perfect it is more or less abraded and
wanting.) The usual ‘‘ male-mark”’ placed before the middle of the
first median interspace, and composed of a more ordess rounded clump
of deep black scales. Cilia cinereous. Hindwing has the base and
abdominal margin clothed with long iridescent greenish hairs. Ciha
vermilion, narrow at the apex of the wing, gradually widening to
the anal angle where it is widest, extending narrowly a short distance
up the abdominal margin. Unpersipe, both wings paler than above.
Forewing with the inner margin broadly pale ochreous; some very
obscure pale ochreous streaks between the veins beyond the end of
the discoidal cell ; the extreme-base of the wing vermilion, bearing
the usual round black spot. Hindwing with the usual round black
spot at the costal base of the wing, the veins and narrow streaks
between the veins on the disc vermilion, the abdominal margin widely
streaked with vermilion. Cilia of both wings as on the upperside.
Antenne black, the club beneath ochreous. Padpi with the third
joint black, the second and first ochreous, vermilion at the sides.
Thorax above concolorous with the wings, but clothed with long
iridescent greenish hairs, beneath vermilion. Abdomen above hair-
brown, beneath and anal tuft vermilion. Zegs vermilion. FEMALE,
differs only from the male in the absence of the “ male-mark, ” and
in the vermilion cilia being paler, more ochreous.
Nearest to J. jaina, Moore, from Sikkim, Bhutan, the Khasi
Hills, Cachar, the Shan States, and Borneo (Druce), with which it
agrees on the upperside, but differs beneath in the forewing in the
absence of the “ well-defined purplish-white spot within the cell,
and a curved discal series of narrow less-defined spots,” the inner
margin also is pale ochreous, not “yellow.” The ‘“* Jsmene”
excellens, Hopffer, from Celebes,* which I have not seen, is also
apparently a closely allied species. It is also near to Ismene etelka,
Hewitson (t/e/ka on plate) + from Sarawak, Borneo, but appears to
* Stet. Hnt. Zeit., vol. xxxv, p. 39, n.119 (1874), .
+ Ismene etelka, Hewitson, Ex. Butt., vol.iv, Ismene, pl. ii, figs. 14,15, female (1867).
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 347
differ on the underside of the forewing in not having “ the base, the
cell, and some rays beyond it between the nervures, rufous-orange, ”’
nor has the hindwing ‘‘ four central spots.”’ Ismene belesis, Mabille,*
from “ India, or more probably Java ” is ‘also an allied species.
‘This butterfly has been recorded from the Nilgiri Hills, “3,000 to
6,000 ft., common.at tea-blossom ; the two wet-season broods only,
J ae and October,” by Mr. G. F. Hampson,+ as “ Ismene helirius, Cra-
mer,” under which name it stands in the British Museum, but it does
notagree with the original figire,t which shows the upperside only,
and has a broad outer darker band to both wings, no costal vermilion
streak to the forewing, and the cilia of the hindwing concolorous
with that of the forewing instead of being rich vermilion, this being
the most conspicuous feature of I. fergusonti. Moreover, Cramer gives
Surinam as the habitat of his “ Papilio” helirius. Mr. Harold S. Fer-
guson also records it || from the High Range, Travancore, ‘‘ where it
appears to becommon in April and May,’’ under the name of
3)
Ismene jaina, Moore.
Described from numerous specimens from the Nilgiri Hills and
Travancore kindly sent me by Lieut. E. Stokes Roberts, R. E., Mr.
G. F. Hampson, and Mr. Harold S. Ferguson, after the latter of whom
I have much pleasurein naming it, taken in April, May, August, and ,
October. In Major C. T. Bingham’s collection is a large female
specimen taken at Kollido, Papun Hills, Tenasserim, Burma, in
December, 1891, which probably belongs to this species, but differs
from South Indian specimens in having the vermilion colour of the
hindwing on the underside more extensive and diffused, almost
covering the posterior two-thirds of the wings. Itis very large,
being 2°9 inches in expanse.
Genus CAPILA, Moore. Genus PISOLA, Moore.
Paipi large, porrect, projecting Palpi large, erect, projecting
beyond the head, densely pilose; beyond the head, densely pilose ;
third joint conical, half the third joint minute, conical.
length of the second.
* Bull. Soc. Ent. France, fifth series, vol. vi, p. x,n. 12 (1876).
+ Journ, A. S.B., vol. lvii, pt. 2, p. 365, n. 216 (1888).
¢ Pap. Ex., vol. i, p. 94, pl. lx, fig. D (1775).
|| Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol, vi, p. 446, n. 185 (1891).
348
Antenne extending to half the
length of the forewing.
Body moderately short.
Abdomen extending to near the
anal angle of the hindwing.
Legs slender; femora slightly
pilose beneath ; hind tibice with a
dense tuft of very long hairs
at the side; mid tibize with a
pair, and hind tibiz with two
pairs, of apical spurs.
Wings large, broad.
Mate. Forewing, costa nearly
straight; apex acute; exterior
margin very oblique; posterior
margin abbreviated, half the
length of the costa.
Hindwing with the apex angled;
exterior margin convex, with a
slight angle in the middle.
Femats. Larger than the male.
Forewing, costa slightly arched;
exterior margin oblique; poste-
rior margin two-thirds the length
of the costa.
Hindwing nearly quadrate, the
exterior margin being produced
to an abrupt angle in the middle.
JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Antenne. rather long, curved.
backwards at the apex.
Body very stout.
Abdomen extending to within
one-third of the length of the
hindwing.
Legs moderately — slender ;
femora pilose beneath ; mid tibis
armed with a pair, and hind tibize
with two pairs, of slender apical
spurs.
Wings large, broad.
[Mateand Femae|. Forewing,
costa slightly arched; exterior
margin oblique ; posterior margin
straight ; subcostal nervure six-
branched ; and third
branches arising at equal distances
from the first; fourth to sixth
contiguous at their base to the
third.
Hindwing convex at the base of
the anterior margin; apex, ex-
second
terior margin, and anal angle
convex.
Above are given, as written, Mr. Moore’s original descriptions of
the genera Capi/a and Pisola, described in the Proceedings of
the Zoological Society of London for 1865, page 785, arranged
opposite to one another for convenience of comparison.
Of the
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 349
former he describes both sexes, but is evidently unaware that the
dense tuft of very long hairs at the side of the tibia on the posterior
Of the latter he presumably
means his description to apply to both sexes also, as in describing
the type species he mentions them both. Both genera contain
a single species each, and Mr. Moore has most unfortunately mixed
them up in. a terrible way. What he describes as the female of
Capila jayadeva is the true male of Pisola zennara; and what he
leg is a male secondary sexual character.
gives as the male of Pisola zennara is the true female of Capila
jayadeva. Hehas figured both sexes of the true Capila jayadeva.
The specific descriptions of the two species should be rear-
ranged thus :—
CAPILA JAYADEVA, Moore.
Mate. Uppersive, both wings
brown, with the base clothed with
orange-yellow hairs; a narrow
longitudinal semi-transparent
streak between the veins, the
discoidal cell having two streaks,
and a third but short streak
Un-
DERSIDE, both wings paler brown,
arising from its extremity.
the semi-transparent streaks be-
ing less prominent. Palpi (except
third joint and a few surrounding
hairs which are brown), head
(except a spot on the forehead
which is brown), and thorax above
orange-yellow ; thorax below and _
legs brown ; abdomen brown, with
narrow white segmental bands.
UpreERrsIDE, both wings
brown. Forewing with a broad
FEMALE.
yellowish-white semi-transpa-
rent irregular-margined discal
band obliquely from the middle
PISOLA ZENNARA, Moore.
Mate. Uppsrstps, both wings
similar [to the male of Capila
jayadeva|, but with the thorax
and the base of the wings brown
[instead of being clothed with
orange-yellow hairs]. [UnprEr-
SIDE, both wings as above.] Fx-
MALE. UPppErstps, both wings [as
in the female of Capila jayadeva|,
except that the two
greyish
Jongitudinal streaks between each
pair of veins exteriorly in the
hindwing are absent. [Unprr-
SIDE, both wings as above. |
350 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
of the costa to the posterior angle.
Hindwing exteriorly with two
greyish longitudinal streaks
between each pair of veins.
UnpERSIDE, both wings uniform
brown. Forewing with the oblique
discal band as above. Ciha
brown. Front of head and palpi
dull orange-yellow ; body and. legs
brown ; abdomen with a pale grey-
ish anal tuft.
Genus CROSSIURA, nov.
Matz. Forewine, costa slightly arched; apex rather acute; outer
margin slightly convex; inner angle rounded; inner margin
straight: costal nervure ending on the costa considerably beyond
the apex of the discoidal cell ; subcostal nervules progressively from
the base of the wing originating closer together, the fourth arising
well before the apex of the cell and ending as usual at the apex of
the wing; subcostal nervure ending well below the apex; wpper disco-
cellular nervule strongly outwardly oblique; mddle disco-cellular
short, upright, concave ; ower disco-cellular twice as long as the middle
one, in the same straight line, straight ; third median nervule arising
at the lower end of the cell; second median arising some distance
before the end; jist median arising near the base of the wing, at
twice the distance from the second as the second arises from the first ;
submedian nervure straight; internal nervure short. Hixpwine,
elongated, narrow ; costa regularly arched ; apex rounded ; outer margin
quite straight from the apex tothe termination of third median
nervule, then well rounded to the anal angle, this rounded portion
being at about right-angles to the rest of the outer margin ; anal angle
dilated, folded over beneath, the cilia being there developed into two
or three strong and thick tufts of hair -2 of an inch in length; abdo-
minal margin nearly straight: costal nervure evenly curved, ending at
the apex of the wing ; first subcostalnervule arising well before the apex
ofthe cell ; upper disco-cellular nervule short, strongly concave, out-
wardly oblique; dower disco-cellular about three times as long as the
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 351
upper, in the same straight line, slightly concave ; discoidal nervule
well developed ; second median nervule arising immediately before the
lower end of the cell; first median arising about four times as far from
the base of the second as the second does from the third; submedian
and internal nervures sinuous. Antenne exactly half the length of the
costa of the forewing, with a well-formed curved club. Padpi with
the third joint minute, pointed ; second and first densely pilose, broad.
Thorax rather robust. Hind legs with a dense bunch of hairs spring-
ing from the base of the tibia and lying along that joint, which they
equal in length. Abdomen short, robust, not nearly reaching to the
analangle of the hindwing. Frmats. Differs from the male only in
the hindwing being considerably broader, and in lacking all the male
secondary sexual characters.
In neuration Crossiura appears to agree very closely with Capila and
Pisola,* Moore, but may be distinguished by the outline of the wings.
In the forewing the male of Crossiwra has the apex less sharply pointed
than in Capila, more so than in Pisola; and the inner margin is longer
than in Capila, shorter than in Pisola. The shape of the hindwing
is quite different, being greatly lengthened, and the dilatation and
folding-over of the wing-membrane of the anal angle, which is there
furnished with long stout setz, isan altogether unique feature in
the family as far as I know, though, perhaps, Mr. Butler’s genus
Spathilepiat which, according to Mr. Kirby’s Catalogue of
the Butterflies, contains seven species all inhabiting South America,
may have a somewhat analagous structure, the anal angle of the
hindwing being *‘ clothed with long radiating spatulate scales in
place of ordinary fringe.”
20. CROSSIURA PENNICILLATUM, n. sp., Pl. J, Figs. 1, 3;
2; 9%.
Hasirat: Khasi Hills.
EXpanseE: ¢, 2°5 to 2:7; 9, 2°65 to 2°75 inches.
*The neuration of the genus Pisola is apparently very erratic. In one out of five
specimens of the male from Sikkim in my collection the fourth subcostal nervule
of the forewing is emitted after the apex of the discoidal cell—a quite abnormal
feature in the Hesperiide; and in one out of three female specimens from Sikkim
the neuration of the hindwing is so abnormal that I have given a sketch of it on
Pl. J, Fig. 3.
+ Ent. Month. Mag., vol. vii, p. 57 (1870).
46
352 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Description: Mate. Uprsrsipa, both wings and cilia dark shining
hair-brown. Forewing with an oblique silvery lustrous semi-trans-
parent discal band, which, commencing at the subcostal nervure,
crosses the discoidal cell towards the end and terminates in the sub-
median interspace opposite the anal angle in the middle of the space ;
this band is rather narrow at its commencement, but rapidly widens
out till it reaches the median nervure, then gradually tapers to its
extremity, below which also in the submedian interspace is a most
minute dot ; an oblique slightly curved series of four subapical equal.
sized white dots, one in each interspace, with still a fifth most minute
one in continuation of the series in the lower discoidal interspace.
Hindwing outwardly a little paler than the rest of the wing,
obscurely streaked with darker colour across this paler area between
the veins. UNDERSIDE, forewing as above, except that the discal
band is extended anteriorly up to the costal nervure, and the inner
area of the wing is a little paler than the rest. Hindwing concolorous
throughout. Antenne dark brown, the club anteriorly pale. Palpi
above with the third joint dark brown, second and first joints
beneath chrome-yellow. TZhoraw, abdomen, and legs dark brown.
FremaLe. UPrerside, forewing differs from the male in the discal
lustrous band being slightly wider, almost reaching the submedian
nervure posteriorly, and extending anteriorly almost to the costa in
an opaque creamy-white spot; the five subapical dots twice as
large. Hindwing with a discal series of five rather elongated spots
placed one in each interspace from the subcostal nervure to the first
median nervule. UnpbrErsipE, both wings with the same differences
as on the upperside.
I am indebted to the Rev. Walter A. Hamilton for the
gift of a single pair of this fine species in perfect condition,
obtained by his native collectors in the Khasi Hills; he pos-
sesses five males and one female in his own collection, all of
which I have examined, and find that the species is a very
constant one. The figure of the male shews the dilatation
of the anal angle of the hindwing forcibly distented with the
setee spread out; in nature the wing-membrane in this region
is folded under and backwards, and the setz lie across the wing
beneath.
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. 353
21. PADRAONA PROCLES,n.sp., Pl. J, Figs. 7, 358, 2.
Hasirat : Ké Isles.
Expanse: 6, 1:3 to1l4; Q, 1:4 inches.
Description : Marz. Uvrersips, both wings glossy fuscous with
golden-coloured markings. Forewing with a broad increasing costal
streak extending to more than half the length of the wing from
the base, anteriorly bounded by the costa, posteriorly by the median
nervure, its outer edge inwardly oblique, the veins crossing it black ;
three small conjugated subapical narrow streaks; a discal macular
increasing oblique band placed parallel to the outer margin of the
wing, consisting of five spots placed between the upper discoidal
nervule and submedian nervure ;-each spot has its inner edge convex,
its outer edge concave, the lowest spot in the interno-median
interspace posteriorly lengthened and carried along the submedian
neryure to the base of the wing ; the band bearing a fine black sinuous
line anteriorly in the two lowest interspaces, this conspicuous charac-
ter being unique in the genus; a streak on’ the inner margin two-
thirdsthe length of the wing from the base. Cilia of the anterior half
of the wing fuscous, of the posterior golden-coloured. Hindwing
with a broad median band, having its edges rather irregular, reaching
from the internal nervure to the second subcostal nervule, anteriorly
produced along the internal nervure towards the base of the wing ;
a patch of long golden-coloured setae near the base of the wing.
Cilia golden-coloured throughout, increasing in length from the apex
to the anal angle. Unpsrsipe, forewing with the apical third of the
wing golden-coloured; the markings much as on the upperside.
Hindwing golden-coloured, more or less streaked with black between
the veins; the discal band as above, but narrower and more macular.
Fremate. Uppersipe, forewing with the costal band less conspicuous
and streaked with black, the discal band lacking the fine sinuous
black line crossing the anterior portion of the two posterior spots
seen in the male. Hindwing with the basal golden-coloured bunch
of setz and the discal band smaller and narrower respectively
than in the male. Unnpsrsips, both wings exactly as in the male.
P. procles is, I believe, quite distinct from all the known species of
the genus (P. dara, Kollar, =P. mesa, Moore; P. mesoides, Butler ;
P. pseudomesa, Moore; P. gola, Moore; P. goloides, Moore ;
304 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
P. augtiades, Felder ; P. olivescens, Herrich-Schaffer ; and P. palma-
rum, Moore), differing therefrom on the upperside in the forewing
in the presence in the male of the above-mentioned black streak, and
in the markings of the hindwing being confined toa single median
band, with an entire absence. of the usual spots towards the costa
and the base of the wings anterior to the band, except in P. olivescens,
from Rockhampton, North Australia, which is also abnormal in this
respect.
Described from two male and two female specimens presented to
me by Heer M. C. Piepers, of Batavia, Java.
22. LOTONGUS PARTHENOPE, Weymer, Pl. J, Figs. 4, 6;
Dy Qo
Hesperia parthenope, Weymer, Stet. Ent. Zeit., vol. xviii, p. 17, n. 15, pl. ii, fig. 8,
female (1887) ; id., Plotz, 1. c., vol. xlvii, p. 91, n. 75 b (1886).
Hasitat: Nias ‘Weymer, Plots, and de Nicéville).
ExpansE: 6, 1:8; 9, 1:9 inches.
Description: Mare. Uprersipe, both wings dark shining brown.
Cilia dark brown. Forewing with a lustrous semi-transparent
stramineous dot in the discoidal cell about three-fourths of its length
from the base, touching the subcostal nervure ; a similar but larger
oblong spot placed transversely towards the base of the second
median interspace; a similar but still larger one at about the
middle of the first median interspace ; a dot equal in size to that in
the cell in the submedian interspace atits middle and touching the
submedian nervure. Hindwing unmarked. UNpsRsIDE, forewing
with a second spot in the cell obliquely placed inwardly beneath the
first spot; the discal spots as above; the dot in the submedian
interspace developed into a large whitish patch which extends
inwardly obliquely across the submedian interspace. Hindwing
unmarked. FrmaLe. Upprrsipe, forewing with all the discal spots
larger, the one in the cell developed into a figure-of-8 spot which
extends completely across the cell, the spots—especially the lower
one—in the median interspaces much larger and oval. Hindwing
with the apex anterior to the subcostal nervure stramineous.
UnveErsipg, forewing with an additional spot on the costa anterior
to the spot in the cell. Hindwing with the apex more widely
stramineous than above. Cilia stramineous apically, followed
apically by an anteciliary dark brown line.
%
NEW INDO-MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES, 335
As far as is known to me, the genus Lotongus now contains three
species~—Z. calathus, Hewitson, L. maculatus, Distant, and
L. parthenope, Weymer. Of these I have only seen the latter. All
the species have hitherto been described from female examples only,
at least that is my impression. Mr. W.F. Kirby has kindly
examined the type specimen of Z. ca/athus in the British Museum,
and informs me that itisafemale. I judge that LZ. maculatus is
also a female, as it has the pale-coloured apical patch to the hindwing
on the underside, which is apparently a female character. Unfortu-
nately Mr. Kirby was unable to ascertain the whereabouts of the type
specimen, and Mr. Distant does not say what sex he described. The
shape of the wings, however, is masculine, but this may be due to
bad drawing. I have here described a male of the genus for the first
time. L. parthenope female differs from that sex of L. calathus in the
forewing in having the three discal spots widely separated, in the
latter they would touch but for the dividing veins, and the ochreous
apex to the hindwing on both sides is much more extensive in
L. calathus. It is much closer, however, to Z. maculatus, from which,
supposing the type specimen to be a male, it differs on the upperside
of the forewing in having the upper spot only of the two in the cell,
and in lacking on the underside of the hindwing the ochreous apex :
supposing it to be a female, L. parthenope differs very greatly in the
outline of the wings, the discal spots on the upperside of the forewing
are larger and more widely separated, these spots on the underside
of L. maculatus appearing to forma straight band “containing a
central fuliginous spot,” which does not at all describe the position
of the spots in L. parthenope.
Described from two male and one female specimen sent to me by
Herr G. Hoppenstedt of Java.
23. PAMPHILA DIMILA, Moore, Pl. J, Fig. 9, 2.
P. dimila, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1874, p, 576.
Hasirat: Runang Pass, south-east side, about 13,000 elevation,
Busahir (Moore) ; Khibber Nala, about 16,000 feet elevation, Spiti
(Sage).
I take this opportunity to figure a unique female of this species
obtained by Major C. A. R. Sage. The drawing here reproduced
356 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
has been submitted to Mr. F. Moore, who pronounces the species
represented to be his P. dimila. As far as is at present known, this -
species is the only true Pamphila occurring in Indian limits, and the
specimen figured is the only one I have ever seen. It is in Major
Sage’s collection. The genus occur abundantly in Central and
Northern Asia, and from Asia Minor to Japan.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
Pratze H.
Ragadia critolaus, n. sp., 6, p. 322.
Dyctis esacoides, n. sp., 6, p. 328.
Discophora dis, nu. sp., 6, p. 320.
Pithecops bassaris, n. sp., 6, p. 827.
23 Dy 3) 2 3 p- O27.
sy Cyaniris ceyx, n. sp., $, p. 828,
2) 3) 39 3) & 3 p- 328.
Swasa suessa, 0. sp., $, p. 337.
" Ss 5A 2, p. 337.
Camena carmentalis, n. sp. $5 p. 330.
SOMNAM A ww
3 le Lopmia thyia, ae sp., 6, p. deo:
» 12. Deudorix getulia, n. sp., 3d, p. 338.
» 13. Arhopala ace, n. sp., 3, p. 829.
re Le 93 acestes, n. sp., d, p. 390.
peietel bas He area, Q. sp.. 2, p. ddl.
Ra ial (oe = asid, D. Sp., 6, p. ddd.
Ig is eeta, 0. sp.. Q, p. 33d.
ieinauns JE
Fig. 1. Papilio macareus, Godart, ¢, p. 845.
Aan ke OG » adscoidia, n. sp., 3d, p. 34d.
5 3. Metaporia harriete, nu. sp., $, p. 341.
Sa eel Be sf a Q, p. 341.
PLatTe J.
Fig. 1. Crossiura pennicillatum, nu. sp., 3, p. 351.
a? 2. 99 3) 39 2. p- 301,
i 3. Pisola zennara, Moore, 9, p. 351.
-~I
-BOMBAY GRASSES. 35
Fig. 4. Lotongus parthenope,.Weymer, ¢, p. 354.
me. 35 A; a Q, p. 304.
» 6. Ismene fergusonit, n. sp., 6, p. 345.
» ¢. Padraona procles, n. sp., $, p. 353.
”? 8. ” » ” SNe p- 309.
» 9. Pamphila dimila, Moore, 2, p. 355.
BOMBAY GRASSES.
By, Da. J. -C.. Lissos. BES:
PABL::¥.
(Continued from Vol. VI., p. 219.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society,
on 29th September, 1892.)
AGROSTIDEA.
Aristipa, Ininn.
A. depressa,* Retz., Obs., IV, 22; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb.
Flora, 295; A. vulgaris, Trin., Rupr. Stipe, 1381.
Ver.—Mothi burri, Longi-kussal, Lani, Rampla; (Telingi name)
Nalli-pootiki (Roxb.). Common all over the Presidency, especially
in dry places, widely spread over tropical and sub-tropical Asia and
Africa, and the South Mediterranean region and in Australia.
Cattle do not eat it. Some reports from Guzarat and Poona say
that it is of little value as fodder grass, others state that it is eaten
when young. Stewart describes it as a favourite fodder for cattle
in the Punjab. Symond says that it is a troublesome grass, which
cattle will noteat. Coldstream states that itis grazed (when young),
but is too short and light to stack, that it covers the Hissar bir in
vast sheets, is too fine to cut with a scythe, but is nutritious and
particularly relished by cattle. This opinion is not borne out by
reports from other parts of India.
A. hystriz, Linn., fil. Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb, F'l., 295.
* This and the following grasses are minutely described at the suggestion
of friends.
358 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Ver.—Pawn burri, Matart-kussal (old woman’s hair), Kole kussal,
Lamp, Lapri dhault, Inthe N.-W. P. it is named Lappi, and its
Tellingi name is Shilpurso-kalli (Roxb.).
It isamore rigid grass than the preceding, and with a broader and
more open panicle. It is common in dry and stony places, and not
much used as a fodder grass. In this respect it may be ranked as
the last, %.e., it is eaten only when young.
A. setacea, Retz., Obs., IV, 22; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. FI., 295.
Ver.—Mothi-kussal. It is a taller grass than the last two
species, found growing in various parts of the Bombay Presidency,
in Ceylon, Africa, Brazil, in Southern Spain and Sicily. The culms
are turned at the nodes. Leaves filiform, convolute, 3-6 inch long.
Panicle rather dense, of a straw colour, Glumes unequal, and the
awns very long and spreading.
Like the preceding, common on dry hilly ground. As fodder it
is useless. Cattle do not eatit. Taties and brooms are said to be
made of its long wiry culms, It is most troublesome to those who
have to walk through it, the ripe spikelets fall off, acting as irri-
tating substances.
Is this species a variety of A. depressa ?
A. royleana, Trin., Rup. Stip., 160.
Ver.—-Pandari-kussal, Bushi-kussal, Pandri-kussal. It is a small
grass, 8-1].inch high, occasionally higher. Sheaths longer than the
internodes. Leaves short, flat, glaucous. Glumes 6-7 lines long,
acuminate, subulate, whitish, nearly equal. Awns very long, about
14-2 inches long. Common all over India. In some parts of Poona,
Satara, Sholapur, and Bhooj it is so common that the places where
it grows in extensive patches appear to be of a dull grey or
glaucous colour.
Not used as fodder.
Stipa, Linn. Gen.
S. aristoides, Staff., Nov. Sp. Culm slender, erect or slightly
bent at the base, two feet high, glabrous, or hispid. Sheath shorter
than the internodes, glabrous, rather striated. Sicula very short,
truncated ? Nodes glabrous. Leaves 5-7 inches long, filiform, rigid,
convoluted, glabrous. Panicle 6-12 inches long, diffuse, rachis
BOMBAY GRASSES. 359
hispid or scabrous owing to minute murication turned upwards.
Branches erect or nodding ; capillary, plumose or flaccid, 2-3 inches
long, generally two together, one a little longer than the other, often
arising from a common very short (about } line), rather thick
peduncle, which is soon divided into two branches. Hach of these is
dichotomously subdivided into filiform branchlets, the latter bearing
towards the upper part 2-3 spikelets, supported on pedicels 2-5 lines
long. The internodes or spaces between the origin of branches are
about } tol inch. Spikelets 4-5 inches long, First glume pointed,
4 lines or 43 lines long, including the awn-like point; mid rib
prominent, with muricated or stiff hairs turned upwards. Second
glume nearly equal, two-toothed or jagged. Flowering glume folded
over the flower, 3 lines long, ending in three awns ; the central twisted
and bent, 13 lines long, the bent portion about 9 lines long; the
lateral awns straight, not twisted, about 5 lines, terminating a little
above the bent portion of the middle awn. The rachis between the
outer and flowering glumes is about halfa line long, surrounded with
numerous white hairs. Stamens 3, Styles 2. Palea minute, two-
ribbed, pointed. Caryopsis small, almost rounded.
This grass appears to resemble a species of Avistida, but its natural
place is in Stipa. This elegant grass is common in the Deccan ;
also in Burdwan. Used in ornamenting bouquets.
Sproropouus, Ff. Br.
S. commutatus, Bois. Vilfa commutata, Trin., Sp. Gram., Plate X.
A small annual. Culms ramous, lower part leafy, upper naked.
Leaves short, linear and flat; margins scabrous. Sheaths pilose.
Ligula consists of short hairs. Panicle 1-3 inch long. Branches
many in verticles, naked to the middle, short, spreading. Spikelets
very small (about 4} line), acute, glabrous. Inferior glume is
shorter by about 3th.
Grows everywhere in India in sandy or stony places, but is not
common. Uses not known.
S. coromandelianus, Kunth., Rev. Gram. Pl., 126; Dalz. and
Gibbs., Bomb. Fl., 296 ; Vilfa coromandeliana, Beauv., Agrost., 16 ;
Agrostis coromandeliana, Retz. Obs., IV, 19.
Trin., Sp. Gram., Pl, XI.
47
360 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Ver.—Telingi name—Yellika-tungoo-gadi, Roxb. It is a small
cespitose plant, 4-8 inches. Lower part of the culm surrounded with
many leaves, which are somewhat rigid, acuminate, with finely
serrate margins. Sheaths glabrous, as long as the internodes.
Panicle 14 inch long. Branches verticelled, secund.
Spikelets very small, glabrous. Glumes acute, nearly equal to the
flowering glume. Seeds naked, ovate, rugose.
It is very common in some places in Poona. Uses not known.
S. indicus, R. Br. Prodr, 110. S. tenactssimus, Beauv. ; Kunth.
Enum., J, 211. Vilfa tenacissima, Trin., Sp. Gram., Plate 60 ;
V. capensis, Trin., Spec. Gram., Plate 56.
Ver.—Ghorla, Khir.
An erect grass. Culm slender, 1-13 feet, glabrous. Nodes
glabrous. Sheaths glabrous, with a few hairs at the margins, or
at the mouth only. Leaves also glabrous, mostly at the base of the
stem, linear, ending in fine points. Panicle spike-like, contracted,
3-8 inches long, sometimes longer, often interrupted. Spikelets,
numerous, crowded along the short, erect, almost intricate or distant
branches. The outer glume obtuse, about 3 lin. long, 2nd glume ?
lin. long. The 3rd or flowering glume about1 lin. long. Seed
obovoid.
Tt grows all over India, the Himalaya, North-West Provinces,
Ceylon, Australia, and is generally spread all over the tropical and
subtropical parts of the world. Considered to be a good fodder
grass. At Balaghat it grows on clay soil, and is used as fodder when
young. In the Gujranvalla district (Punjab) it is reckoned as a good
fodder, especially for horses. In Australiaitis valued as an excellent
pasture grass. It stands drought well and is generally eaten by
stock. (See Duthie.) Inthe United States this grass, which is known
there under the name of smuth grass, is of considerable value for
grazing purposes, if frequently cut or grazed down, but if allowed
to remain untouched long, cattle and horses will not eat it, unless
very hungry, as it becomes tough and unpalatable. Mr. J. N.
Brashear, of Port Gibson, quoted by Dr. Vasey, remarks in reference
to this species : ‘‘ It is common all over our pasture lands, and is very
hardy, standing any sort of weather. It grows well on almost any
kind of land, but does best on rich moist bottoms. It is not used to
BOMBAY GRASSES. 361
any considerable extent for hay, but it makes splendid feed, if cut
while young. It will yield about 14 tons per acre......... It makes
a splendid pasture plant, and that is generally what we use it for.
Stock are generally fond of it, until it goes to seed, and they some-
times use it when dry in winter.” Itis a common grass in the
Kandian country, Ceylon. |
S. rupestris, Trinius describes a grass under the name of Vilfa
rupestris, and gives a figure in his Species Gram. This however
appears to be a small variety of S. indicus.
8. diander, Beauv., Agrost., 26; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. F'l., 296,
Agrostis diander, Retz. Obs., V., 19; Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 317; Vilfa
diandra, Trin., Agrost., I, 38.
Ver.—Chireya-ka-dana. In Bengal it is called Bena-goni, Roxb.
An erect, glabrous grass, 1}-3 ft. high. Culm slender. Nodes
glabrous. Sheath slightly bearded at the mouth, shorter than the
internodes. Ligula very short, ciliated. Leaves chiefly at the base
of the culm, very narrow and tapering to a fine point. Panicle
contracted, 6 in. long, often longer, usually bending over a little.
Inferior branches about 1 in. long. Spikelets 1 in. long, rather
acute, glabrous. Outer empty glumes very obtuse, the outer very
short.
Flowering glume longer, rather obtuse or somewhat acute. Palea
broad, obtuse, not so readily splitting as in other species. Grain
obovoid, not easily separable from the pericarp.
Not common ; said to be common in the plains of North-West
Provinces and at moderate elevations on the Himalaya ; in fact it is
widely spread in India. It growsalso in Australia, and is said to be
very common about Colombo and elsewhere in the Western Pro-
vinces.
Reported from Poona to be a good fodder grass fit for grazing.
Said to be readily eaten by horses and cattle at Lahore, and is algo
favourably mentioned at Gujranvalla and Shapur. Mr. Fergusson
says that cattle in Ceylon do not like this and the last described
species.
S, orientalis, Kunt. Enum., I, 211; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. Fl.
295; Vilfa orientalis, Nees., Agrost. Brazil, 393. Under Agrostis;
Agrostis elongata, Roth,, Nov. Sp., 41.
362 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Ver.—Shapia, Kal, Usar-ki-ghas.
The whole plant glabrous, culms extensively creeping, ramous,
with 4-8 in. of the extremity erect, smooth, filiform and very firm.
Ligula short, ciliated. Leaves chiefly at the base of the stem, very-
small and smooth, glabrous, tapering to a fine point. Panicle erect,
linear or pyramidal. Branches verticillate, adpressed, 1-2 in. long.
Spikelets many, 1 lin. long. Outer glume obtuse, almost hyaline,
and very short. The second empty glume is nearly equal to the
flowering glume. ,
Received specimens only from West Khandeish, where it is said to
be reckoned as good fodder grass. I have reason to believe that
it grows also in other districts of this Presidency, especially in
dry, sandy, or saline soils.
“This grass is strictly confined to saline soils, and is found on all
the usar tracts in Northern India, often constituting the entire
vegetation. As such it is not only useful as an unmistakable
indicator of reh-infected soils, but also by affording an abundant
supply of fodder over large areas of land where other plants are
unable to exist. The experiments now being undertaken at Aligarh
and Cawnpore for the reclamation of reh-infected land are of great
interest in regard to the changes affecting the growth of this grass,
The immediate effect of excluding all cattle from usar land is the
production of a more luxuriant growth of the usar grass, and its
rapid extension over what were formerly bare efflorescent patches.
At the same time other kinds of grasses quickly take advantage of
the improved condition of the soil consequent on the more vigorous
growth of the usar grass; for the thicker coating of usar grass
helps to moderate the scorching rays of the sun, and in this way
diminishes the upward capillary movement. of reh salts. On all
usar tracts there are usually to be seen patches of various sizes
scattered here and there, usually in the form of ridges or mounds.
These raised portions are nearly always found to support an
assortment of plants indicating a distinctly different condition of
soil compared to that of their surroundings. Dub and other
valuable grasses form a large proportion of vegetation of these raised
patches, and are ever ready to encroach wherever the ground in
their immediate neighbourhood becomes fitted for their existence.
BOMBAY GRASSES. 363
The usar grass does not appear to be able to hold its own on
ground which is capable of supporting these other grasses ; it will,
therefore, gradually disappear as the reclamation of the reh-infected
tracts proceeds.”—Duthie.
Potypocon, Desf.
P. montpeliensis, Desf., Kunth. Enum., I., 232 ; Steud, Syn. Pl.
Glum., I., 184; Beawy. Agrost., XVI., fig. 8.
Ver. Chitra, Malhar. Culm procumbent at the base, then
erect or ascending, simple or sometimes branched, 1-2 feet high,
glabrous. Sheath glabrous, striated. Ligula rather large, 2-3
lines, obtuse. Leaves flat, glabrous, or scabred, 5-8 inches long
2-3 lmes broad. Panicle spike-like linear, cylindrical, dense, 1-5
inches long, of a yellowish-green, or whitish colour. Spikelets
not longer than a line. Outer glumes nearly equal, scarcely
one line long, pubescent or ciliate, with minute murication on the
midrib, obtuse or notched, ending in a fine, straight awn, 3 or 4.
times as long as the glume. Flowering glume broad, hyaline
truncate, 4-toothed or jagged, the awn usually very short or
wanting. Is common in Europe, Asia and Africa, also in Ceylon
and Australia and in some parts of America, where it is supposed
to be introduced. Mr. Duthie states that it is common in cul-
tivated ground. It is an ornamental grass, but of little value for
fodder. J have received specimens from Sind.
Avenacenr, Kunth.
Calachne, R. Br.
C. pulchella, R. Br.; Benth. Fl. Austr. VII. 625 Thiv. Hnum.
Pl. Zeyl. 373; Panicum simpliciusculum, Steud. Syn. Pl. Gram.
£96.
A small glabrous grass, flowering almost from the base. Culm
filiform (in the specimens seen), decumbent, 5 incheslong. Sheath
half-an-inch long, glabrous, striated. Leaves ovate, lanceolate,
about one inch long, marked with strong lines, especially at the upper
surface. Panicle 2-3 inches long, loose, narrow, the rachis and
branches filiform. The latter short, erect or divergent, alternate.
Spikelets numerous, almost imbricate, shortly pedicelled, often in
364 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
pairs, or sometimes clustered in fours, ovate, scarcely 7 line long.
B oth flowers fertile, the pedicellate smaller. The two outer glumes
slightly unequal, thin, membranous, broad, convex. Flowering
glumes thinner, ovate, smooth, the third longer. Fruiting glumes
not hardened. :
This grass is probably rare. Specimens received from Kumber-
wada, in North Kanara, only. Seen from a distance, at first sight
it resembles a depauperated species of Setaria intermedia, R. and §.
Uses not known.
Avena, Linn.
A. sativa, Linn., Gen. Kunth. Suppl., Pl. XX., fig. 1; Dalz. and
Gibs., Bomb. Flora., Suppl., 97.
Ver. Wilaitt Jaw. (Datr). The cultivators on this side treat
it as barley and confound it with this grain. It is grown for
its grain and fodder (straw) near some cantonments by cavalry
officers and for race horses. It is largely grown for this purpose
at the Saharanpur and Hapur Stud Depots, and at the Hissar
Cattle Farm, and is also stacked.
Dalz. and Gibs. state that the oat is often used for the feeding of
horses, but as the paleaceous matter is much more predominant than
is the case in the oat of Europe, it often gives rise to chronic cough
and huskiness. Hence many prefer the Cicer artetinwm, or gram, to
the oat as a horse’s food. (See Bomd. Fl., Suppl., 97.)
It is extensively cultivated in some parts of Hurope; its entire
grain forms an important article of horse-food, and, when ground,
which removes the husk, it becomes oatmeal. This is used in the
preparation of porridge and cakes; and forms a nutritious food,
greatly used by the people of Scotland. What is called Hmden
Groats of the shops in the entire grain deprived of its husk and
dried.
It is stated that richer natives near the chief towns and military
stations, are beginning to appreciate the value of the oatmeal as
numan food. The analysis of the Indian oat does not compare
favourably with the oat grownin Hurope. Whilst the later yields
albuminoids 12, oil 6, fibre 11, and ash 3 per cent., the former gives
albuminoids 10:1, oil 23, fibre 16, ash 2°3, It is to be remarked
BOMBAY GRASSES. 365
here, that so far as the ratio of the nutrients are concerned, oatmeal
is an almost perfectly adjusted food. (See food-grains of India by
Church.)
TristacHiA, Nees.
T’. Stocksw, Boiss. This is mentioned by Boissier as occurring in
Sind and Baluchistan, not seen by me. Its spikelets are congested
in threes at the ends of the panicle branchlets. Hach spikelet is two-
flowered, the lower male and the upper either hermaphrodite or
female.
CHLORIDA.
ScH@NEFELDIA, Kunth., Rev. Gram.
S. Gractlis, Kunth., Hum., Pl. 1., 258; 8. ramosa, Trin., Spec.
Gram., t. 359; S. pallida, Edgew., Astatic Journal, 1852, p. 183.
Annual, cespitose, and branched from the base, glabrous, 7-8
inches high. Sheath and leaves ciliolate at the margins. Leaves
linear, ending in a rather long point. Spikes long, solitary, terminal,
2-3 together, secund, densely flowered, 2-3 inches long, spikelets
subsessile, one-flowered, in two rows. Lower two glumes empty,
persistent, unequal, the lower a little shorter, the 3rd emarginate,
bifid, villous, shorter than the first, with a long, more or less bent,
awn; the fourth or the flowering glume rather shorter than the
third linear, lanceolate.
The whole plant is glaucous and looks very pretty with its slender
spikes and their long awns. It is rare, scattered all over India, in
Banda and dry sandy ground in North-Western India, also in the
ravines bordering the Jumna and Chambal rivers. This grass, the
only species of the genus Schenefeldia, grows also in Senegambia,
Nubia, and the Cape Verde Islands. My specimens are from Mahim,
and BodeliGuzerat. Nothing appears to be known regarding its uses.
Cynopon, ers.
C. Dactylon, Pers; Kunth. Enum., I., 259; Dalz. and Gibs., Bom.
Flora., 297; Panicum dactylon, Linn., Sp.; Digitaria Stolonifera,
Schrad., Fl. Germ., t. 3, fig. 9; Beauv. Agrost., t. 1x., fig. I. ; Sibth.,
Fl, Gr., t. 60.
Ver. Doorba or Duuva of the Hindus, sacred to Ganesh,
Harala or Haryeli of the Bombay people, Gericha of the Teling
366 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892.
(Roxb.), Arugam=pilla, Tamil (Roxb.). In some other parts of
India it is known by the name of Dubra dub; Nili dub, Ram ghas,
Khabbar (Duthie).
Stem perennial, prostrate, often creeping and rooting to a great
extent, the flowering branches shortly ascending. Leaves short,
rigid, distichous. Spikes 2—5, sometimes 6-8, digitate, at the
end of a long peduncle, slender, often purplish, 1—14 inches long.
Spikelets, linear, smooth, sessile. Outer glumes narrow, acute,
pointed, persistent, keeled, nearly equal, less than a line long.
Flowering glume rather longer and broader, boat-shaped, the keel
minutely ciliate, hardening when in fruit, and smooth on the sides.
It is abundant everywhere in this and other Provinces of India.
It is said to be rare in very sandy parts of the Western Punjab and
in the black soil of Central India. Grows also in Ceylon and over a
greater part of the world. It is found in England, though rare, and
other parts of Hurope, abundant in the western slopes of the Andes,
China, Thibet, South and Central America, and the Cape of Good
Hope, and according to Birdwood is said to be introduced into Farz
and Khuzistan by the British Expedition of 1856-57. It is con
sidered to be the best and most nutritious fodder grass for cattle-
especially for horses, in India, Ceylon, in the United States of
America,and in Australia. In the settled parts of the latter country
it is now generally spread. R. Brown suggests that it may have
been introduced with cultivation. It varies considerably in habit as
well as in its nutritious properties. It makes excellent hay, and will
keep good in stock for many years. Mr. Fergusson says :—“ Its
flowers in their perfect state are among the loveliest objects in the
vegetable world, and appear, through a lens, like minute rubies
and emeralds in constant motion from the least breath of air. It is
the sweetest and most nutritious pasture for cattle ; and its useful-
ness added to its beauty, induced the Hindus, in their earliest ages,
to believe that it was the mansion of a benevolent nymph. LHven
the Veda celebrates it as in the following text of the A’’’harvana:
“ May Durva, which rose from the water of life, which has a hundred
roots and a hundred stems, efface a hundred of my sins, and prolong
my existence on earth for a hundred years.” Itis also sacred to
Ganesha. Durva and Doorba must not be confounded with Darbha
BOMBAY GRASSES. 367
a synonym of the celebrated Cusha grass. Sir W. Jonesand others,
ex. Birdwood, Bombay Products, p. 128,
The following extracts taken from Dr. Vasey’s ‘ Report on the
Grasses of the South,” pp. 26-28 (1887), show how highly valued
is this grass in America. ‘In Louisiana, Texas, and the South
generally, it is and has been the chief reliance for pasture for a long
time, and immense herds of cattle on the southern prairies subsist
principally on this food.................. It has the capacity to with-
stand any amount of heat and drought, and months that are so dry as
to check the growth of Blue-grass (Pow arachnifera) will only mak®
the Bermuda grass green and more thrifty. ” (Professor Kilbrew.)
“ Bermuda grass grows on any kind of soil in Texas, bué will not
stand the trampling of stock on loose sandy soil. It is hard to beat
for a grazing grass, though long continued droughts cause it to dry
up.” (Mr. M. M. Martin, Central Texas.)
‘© While this is the most northern limit of Bermuda grass, it is
also the most southern limit of the Blue-grass. The two growing
together on the same land produce a most perfect pasture, as the
Blue-grass is green, all the fall, winter, and spring months, while
during the heat of summer, which prevents the growth of the
Blue-grass, the Bermuda flourishes. The two together in good
strong soil make a perfect pasture good all the year round.”
(Mr. J. B. Wade, N. Georgia).
“The time is not far distant when all the rough feed consumed on
plantations will be made of this grass, and when the planter will
consider his hay crop of more importance than his sugar and cotton.
No other grass will yield such an amount of valuable hay, surpass
it in nutritious qualities, or support on an acre of pasture such an
amount of stock.’? (Mr. Affleck in Professor Kilbrew’s ‘‘ Grasses of
Tennessee.”’)
Colonel Otley has written a long article on the cultivation of this
grass as a fodder for Cavalry in the Madras Literary Journal. This
article is copied in Johnson’s ‘ Grasses of India’ with a few useful
observations.
Cutoris, Linn.
C. Barbata, Swar., Fl. Ind., Pl. 200; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb, F1.,
296, O. decora, Nees., in Royle’s Herb. ; Andropogon barbatus, Linn,
48
368 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Ver.—GQéshya, Aptia, Gondwal, Chanderyot, Phulkia (Balaghat),
Chinkri (Jeypur), Gandi gavung and palriah (North-West Pro-
vinces by Royle), Ganni (Punjab.)
Culm glabrous, compressed. Sheaths ciliate at the mouth.
Leaves acute, bifarious at the base of the culm, shortly hairy on the
upper surface. Spikes 6-12, digitate, secund, 13-2 inches long.
Spikelets two-flowered, imbricated, the lower sessile, hermaphrodite.
Outer glumes two, empty, awnless ; flowering glume membranous.
keeled, ciliate at the end, with rather long hairs, and produced into
a long straight awn. Theupper floret consists usually of two empty
glumes, often awned. The palea is hairy. This grass is very
common allover India and also in Ceylon, and in Australia reckoned
to be a good fodder. Cattle eat it till it flowers, after which they
will not touch it.
C. Roxburghiana, Schult., Mant., Il, 239; C. polystachia, Roxb.,
Fl. Ind., I, 382.
Culm slender, erect, or decumbent at the base, and then ascend-
ing, about two feet high. Leaves smooth, sparingly hairy on the
upper surface. Spikes numerous, usually about 20, terminal, digi-
tate, or fasciculate, umbelled, 2-24 inches long, secund. Spikelets
alternate in two rows, sessile, imbricate, with one hermaphrodite
flower. Glumes two, unequal, lanceolate, keeled, smooth, awnless.
Flowering glume of the hermaphrodite flower produced into a fine
straight awn, ciliate at the margins. ‘The rachis bears at the top
two pedunculated awned glumes.
The plant is rare. My specimens are from the compound of the
Grant Medical College and from the neighbourhood of the Victoria
Gardens. [s it a variety of Chloris barbata with numerous spikes ?
O. tenella, Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 200.
Ver.—Kagya, Morbhago grass (Duthie).
Culm slender, smooth, glabrous, 1 foot high or higher. Leaves
smooth, soft, glabrous, long in proportion to the plant, often longer
than the stem. Spikes terminal, secund, solitary, or very seldom two,
about two inches long. Spikelets 3-5 flowered, distichous or alternate,
all hermaphrodite except the last which is often rudimentary.
Glumes unequal, broad, lanceolate, acute. Flowering glume broad,
cucculate,awned. The author’s of the Bomb. Flora state: ‘This is
BOMBAY GRASSES. 369
arare grass according to Roxburgh, and we have not met with it
in more than one place, viz., in the city walls of Surat.” I have
received specimens from Surat, Dhulia, Poona, and the Loni Reserve
on the banks of the Mutta Mulla river, where itis extremely
local and by no means plentiful. Mr. Wroughton, Deputy Conser-
vator of Forests, has found it in the Late, Murum and Reserves on
the bank of the Nira river. ‘Here it grows in abundance and
strongly. I had to wade through patches which were above my
knees and covered considerable areas.” (Wroughton.)
Duthie has discovered it in Rajputana, Bundelkhund, and the
Central Provinces. The uses of this elegant grass are not known.
At Ajmere it is reckoned to be a good fodder.
C. Digitata, Stend., Synop. Pl. Glum., I., 207; Melica digitala,
Roxb,, Fl. Ind. I., 328; Chloris digitata, Edgew, Asiat. Journ.,
1852, p. 183.
Ver.—Kuncha, Bamna, Mathanya, Nika gadi, and Salakodam gadi
(Duthie).
Culms slender, decumbent at the base and then ascending ;
er erect when growing amongst bushes, 4-5 ft. long or longer.
Sheaths hairy at the mouth. Leaves pilose, chiefly on the upper sur-
face. Spikes 4-5, filiform, secund, terminal, digitate, expanding or
divaricate, 6-9 inches long, hairy at the base, spikelets in two
rows, sessile. The two outer glumes unequal, shortly awned,
3-4 times longer than the 8rd. Flowering glume with a long awn
issuing just below the apex at the dorsal surface. The upper glume
or neuter floret rudimentary, awned.
This is a large and beautiful species. When it grows amongst
bushes it attains a considerable height. It resembles at first sight
some of the large specimens of Panicum sanguinale. It is not
uncommon in this Presidency, nor uncommon in Northern India.
I have received specimens from Khandeish, Nassick, Thana, and
from Southern India,
C. montana, Roxb., FI. Ind., I., 329.
This is a variety of Chloris barbata, with four to six spikes enly,
the spikelets large, like those of C. tenella, often of a purplish eolour.
There is another beautiful variety of C. barbata with long flexuose
spikes, 44-5 inches long; spikelets smaller than in C. montana,
370 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1822.
white, awns short and straw coloured. The specimen was received
from Nassick.
MeELonocencHRIs, Nees.
M. royleana, Nees, Ann. Nat. Hist., vii, 221; Hutriana abyssinica.
R. Br.; Melanocenchris Jaquemontiana,Jaub.and Spach; MV. rothiana,
Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. Fl., 297.
Ver. Gooli, Bedari, Dongri, Landgeya-Kussal or Landga-Kussal
(Landga means wolf, the grass is supposed to resemble this
animal).
Cespitose. Culms filiform, 4-6 inches, high, branched. Leaves
short, narrow, flat or convolute, pointed, edges ciliate. Spikes
terminal, secund. Spikelets one flowered, sessile in two rows, often
arranged in two rows, and falling away at the joints. Two outer
glumes empty, linear, hairy below and produced into a straight awn.
The flowering glume almost always glabrous, trifid, with three
straight awns of a brownish colour, the two lateral smaller, the
central longer.
This small elegant grass is very common in stony and barren
places in the Konkan and Deccan ; also in Northern India. Reports
from Tulapur (Poona) state that it isnot a goodfodder. Mr. Duthie
on the contrary states—“It is said to be a good grazing grass
when young, though rather too small to be of much use.”
Trirocon, Roth. Nov, Pl. Spec.
T. zeylanicus, Nees, Stend, Syn. Pl. Glum., I., 301; Thw., Enum,
Pl. Zeyl. ;
Ceespitose. Culm slender, about feet high, pubescent. Sheath
villous or pubescent. Leaves very narrow, linear, convolute,
ending in a point, hairy. Spike terminal, solitary, narrow, lax,
flexuose, 3-4 inches long. Spikelets alternate, sessile, oppressed,
secund in two rows, not imbricate, 3-7 flowered. The two lower
glumes empty, persistent, keeled, unequal, the lowest smaller.
Flowering glumes shortly longer, 3-nerved, 3-awned. The lateral
awns almost mucronulate, shorter than the central. Grows in
Poona and North Khanara.
The description here given is from a grass kept in the Herbarium
BOMBAY GRASSES. 371
of the Poona College of Science named Septochloa tripogonoides by
Munro.
Tripogon, Nov. Sp. Glabrous. Culm straight, single, 2-25 feet or
higher. Sheath obsoletely striated. Ligula very minute. Leaves
glabrous, rigid, very narrow, about one line broad, 4 inches to one
foot and half long, ending in a long narrow point, Spike simple,
straight, sometimes falcate, 6 inches to one foot long. Spikelets
oppressed, sessile, compressed, alternate secund in two rows, ovate,
lanceolate, 3-4 lines long, 4-8 flowered. First glume small,
lanceolate, 2 of a line long. Second glume 3-34 lines, lanceolate,
distinctly keeled. Flowering glume keeled, the keel running into a
mucro or short awn (+ line long) with two minute teeth on each
side. Palea nearly equal to the flowering glume, two-ribbed. Styles
free to the base.
There are two varieties of this grass, one with short spikelets and
a few flowers, and the other with longer spikelets and with more
flowers. Both varieties are from the Konkan. This elegant grass
grows also in Khanan and Mysore. Uses not known.
T. jacquemontii, Staff, Nov. Sp. Grass greenish-glaucous,
glabrous. Culm slender, erect or slightly bent at the base, 13-2
feet high. Sheath rather loose, a little shorter than, or nearly as
long as the internode. Ligula minute, truncate. Leaves chiefly
at the base, linear, 4-3 line broad, 3-5 inches long, rigid. Spike
simple, straight, or more or less flexuose and nodding, 5-6 inches
long, white, many flowered. Spikelets sessile, somewhat com-
pressed, apparently cylindric, alternate, narrow, 5-9 lines long,
many 13-19 flowered. First glume prominently keeled. Second
glume similar but tlonger. Flowering glume 3-nerved, 3-awned,
the central awn longer than the lateral. Pale 2-nerved, oblong,
slightly. shorter than the flowering glume. Lodicles a pair of.
scales. .
This grass is found growing in Poona, Sholapur, Deccan, Konkan,
in the same localities as the best species; it is said to grow also, in
Bengal. It is named after Jacquemont, as he was the first to collect
it in Poona.
T. capitatus, Jaub. and Spach. Under this name Jaubert and
Spach describe minutely and give in their Illustrationes Plant.
372, TOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Orient. a drawing of a species which they state grows in Poona
“circa urbem Poona inter muscos supra arbores et saxa legit
Jacquemont.”’
Dinesra, Jacq. Fragom.
D. arabica, Beauv., XXVI., fig. 2. Dinebra Hgyptiaca, Jacq.,
Fragon X. 121 ; Leptochloa arabica, Kunth, Hnum.,I., 271., Hleusine
calycina, Roxb., Fl. Ind., 1., 346.
Ver. Barta, Kali-kauli, Bara sarpot; Waddata-toka, Jaddee
(Roxb.).
Culm decumbent or erect, 1-3 feet high, leafy at the base.
Leaves flat, thinly sprinkled with hairs. Panicle erect, from 8-12
jnches long, composed of numerous short, alternate, secund, sessile
Spikes, at first erect, and reddish when young, then reflexed.
Spikelets 3-flowered in two rows; flowers hermaphrodite. The two
outer glumes empty, nearly equal, persistent, narrow, keeled>
accuminate and produced almost into a short awn. Flowering
glume shorter, hyaline, obtuse, l-nerved. No awn.
This elegant and ornamental grass is very common in Khandeish ;
also in the Punjab, Rajputana, and in the Central Provinces and in
Bundelkund, also in Arabia, Heypt and Senegambia. It is said to
be introduced in Ceylon. Reports from Kandeish and Poona say
that it is good fodder for grazing and perhaps for stacking. Report
from Nirgudi(Poona) “ good fodder, especially for milk cows.’ This
grass is annual, and during the rainy season is sold aiong with other
fodder grasses. Mr. Duthie thinks that “ it is probably nutritious, -
but being only an annual and not plentiful, it does not take a high
place as a fodder grass.” Dalz. and Gibs in Bomb. FI, p. 297, say
‘it ig common in Sind, where it is called Drub, and it is a favourite
food of buffaloes.”
LeprocHioa, Beauv. Agrost.
L. Chinensis, Nees, Agrost. Bras., 482; Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum.,
I., 209; L. tenerrima, Roen and Schult; Poa decipiens, Stend.,
eee Pl. Glum., I., 279.
Ver. Chenhel, Ihira, Phulkia.
Culm creeping and rooting from the flower nodes, then ascending
2-3 ft., ramous, usually slender, glabrous. Sheaths compressed.
BOMBAY GRASSES. 373
Leaves linear, flat, scabrous, produced into a point. Panicle one
foot long or longer, very ramous. Branches numerous, slender,
simple, scattered or clustered along the rachis, 2-4 inches long,
Spikelets alternate, sessile, shortly pedicelled, distant or approxi-
mated, narrow, 1-2 lines long, 4-6 flowered. The two outer glumes
empty, somewhat unequal, lanceolate, acute or subulate. Flowering
glumes broader and obtuse, hyaline at the apex.
Seen specimens collected in Parel (Island of Bombay) and Guzerat.
Said to be common in the plains of Northern India, where it is used
more or less for fodder. Also in Bengal, Ceylon, and Australia.
Leptochloa calycina (Roxb.), described in the Bomb. F'., is Dinebra
arabica, Beauv., above described.
Kuizusine, Gaertn. Fruct.
HE. corocana, Gaert. Carp.,1; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1., 342; Dalz.
and Gibs., Bomb., Fl., Suppl., 97; Cynosurus corocenus, Linn.,
Sp. Pl. ; Tsyeth pullu, Rheed., Hort. Mal., XII, t. 78.
Ver. Hind. and Mah. Natchni, Nagli-Raggi, Mandha, Mandhua,
Maruya; Beng., Marua, Modua; Punjab, Mandol, Cholodra;
Himalaya, Hoda; Kurakan.
Culm erect, 2-4 ft. high, compressed, simple, smooth. Sheath
bearded at the mouth. Ligula short, fimbriate, pilose. Leaves
bifarious, large, 1 ft. long or longer than the culm, Spikes 4-7,
digitate, usually in-curved, sometimes straight, thick, secund, 1-3
in. long. Spikelets sessile, densely imbricate, in two rows, 3-6
flowered. The two outer glumes empty (the lowermost longer),
keeled, obtuse. Flowering glume ovate, concave, obtuse, glabrous,
minutely denticulate. Fruit: globular, dark brown, rugose. Peri-
carp loose over the fruit or seed.
It is extensively cultivated over our ghats and in the plains and
lower districts more than 20 miles inland. It is transplanted and
weeded like rice. It may be grown almost over stones and gravel,
but when sown over a rich soil, the return is enormous in proportion
to the area. It yields from 5-6 maunds of seed: per acre upon the
hills, 12-14 maunds inthe plains. Dr. Roxburgh describes a luxuri-
ant variety, H, stricta. For this variety Dr. Roxburgh gives “ an
increase equal to 120 fold, and for another 500, whilst on two tufts,
the produce of one seed, 50 culms grew, and no less than 8100 fold
374 TOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
was carefully calculated to be the produce of this plant. Generally
zhis grain is sold at the rate of 80 to 130 lbs. a rupee. It is consi-
dered by natives to be the most nourishing and invigorating of cheap
food. On analysis nachni grain has been found to contain on an
average 6°53 per cent. of nitrogenous matter, whereas rice contains
70°40 per cent., and wheat 13°42. In this respect natchni stands
last amongst the cereals of India. Dr. Forbes Watson thinks that
want of nitrogen is more than compensated by the mineral constituents
of Raggi (nachni). It is rich in iron required for the blood corpus-
- cles, and in potash, lime and phosphoric acid essential to various
tissues of the body. On the whole natchni stands high in food
value.’? The portion of phosphoric acid in the grain is about 0-4.
It is extensively used by the poorer classes of Patna, Bhagalpur,
Dinajpur, Gorakpur, Behar and other districts of Northern India.
In Mysore and other parts of Southern India it is the staple food,
sometimes stored there in pits, and keeps without being deteriorated
for years. Nachni is eaten in the form of cakes made of the flour,
- mixed with a sufficient quantity of water and sugar, and baked.
The flour is also used by its being stirred with water, then boiled
and formed into a sort of thick porridge, named ambil in Goa and in
the South of India. Well-to-do people make a sort of pudding,
which they call tisana. It is said that in Darjiling a fermented
liquor is prepared from the natchni grain. The stocks are given
to cattle as fodder or used as fuel.
Natchni has ‘not been found in a wild state. Is it the result of the
cultivation of the next species, which resembles it, and the grain of
which is eaten by poor people during scarcity or famine times ?
Fergusson believes that the name Hleusine corocana, given by
Gaertner and Linneus to this plant, is derived from “ the Sinhalese
Kurakan under which it has been known to and cultivated by the
natives (of Ceylon) times out of mind.”
B. Agyptiaca, Pers. Syn., L, 82; Roxb., Fl. Ind., 1., 345; Cyno-
surus e@gypticus, Linn., Sp. Pl, 106; Dactyloctenium egyptiacum,
Willd., Kunth. Enum Pl. I., 261; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. Flor.,
297.
Ver. Makra, Madhana, Kark-medhana, Matcha, Mansa, Mathna,
Chikara, Chota-Mandya, Makar Jali ; Duthie and Roxburgh.
BOMBAY GRASSES. 375
Culm creeping and rooting at the lower nodes, then ascending to
about a foot or more, slightly compressed. Sheath sparingly hairy.
Ligula very short, ciliate. Leaves flat, flaccid, tapering to long points,
hairy from minute tubercules. Spikes 3-5 digitate, secund, varying
from }-linch. Spikelets numerous, 8-5 flowered, closely imbricate
on the underside of, and at, right angles to, a prominent angular
rachis. Outer glume acute, about 1 line long; the 2nd broader,
obtuse or emarginate, its keel produced into a short awn, Flower-
ing glume broad, acuminate or tapering into short points. Seed
oval, somewhat 3-sided, rugose, enclosed in a thin loose pericarp.
It is common everywhere in Bombay and over India, in Ceylon,
Australia, Africa, and even in Europe. In poor hard soils it assumes
a creeping habit, and yields short spikes. It is reckoned to bea
good nutritious fodder, especially when young cattle are fond of it.
_ The seed is occasionally collected in some parts of India, and in
times of scarcity eaten, but it is a poor unpalatable food.
This grass has a close affinity to the last described species
of Hleusine. In fact H. corocana is supposed, as already stated, to
be the result of the cultivation of H. egyptica.
E. indica, Geertn. Carp., I., 8; Kunth, Enum. I., 272; Trin., Sp.
Gram., X., 71; Roxb., Fl. Ind., I., 845; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Flor.
Ver. Mendla or Medha, Guder, Khurd, Khurd-mendi, Mal-ankur,
Kuror (Roxb.); Mandwa, Thingri (Royle); Makratla, Gadha-charwa,
Gadha-mandwi, Gurchawa, Mandanya, Kakaria, Mandial Jart,
Gurra-gadi (Duthie).
A coarse tufted grass. Culm erect, compressed, smooth, 1-2 ft.
high. Sheaths flattened, distichous, sparsely hairy, chiefly at
the mouth. Ligula short, hairy ; leaves glabrous, flat, linear
rather obtuse; spikes 5-7, 2-3 inches long; secund, erect,
digitate, often one, occasionally two, inserted at some distance below
the others. Rachis prominent on the inner side. Spikelets 13—2
lines long, loosely imbricate on the opposite side, 3—5 flowered,
The two lower glumes obtuse, one-nerved, empty. Flowering
glume usually 8-nerved. Seed oblong, obscurely three-sided.
Pericarp rugose, loose. Itis a common grass all over the Presidency
and in Bengal, North-West Provinces, and in Ceylon. Grows all
over tropical and subtropical countries, Australia, America, Africa,
49
376 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Azores, Taiti, Guadaloupe, &c. It is a somewhat coarse grass, but
the reports received are favourable to its being good fodder grass.
It is eaten by cattle and horses. Is reckoned to bea good fodder in
Australia, in the United States of America, where it is known as
yard grass, crow’s foot, crab grass, and wire grass. Professor Phares
says:—‘*‘ It grows in rich cultivated ground and produces immense
quantity of seeds. It is very nutritious, and good for grazing,
soiling, and hay. The succulent lower part of the stems covered
with the sheaths of the leaves renders it difficult to cure well, for
which several days are required. It may be cut two or three times,
and yields a large quantity ofhay.’”’ See Report on the Agricultural
Grasses of the United States. See also Duthie.
Dr. Roxburgh says that the cattle are not fond of it ; this remark
may, however, apply, according to Duthie, to the Bengal form,
which the nature of the climate would render more rank and
unpalatable. Mr. W. Ferguson of Ceylon also writes: —‘ It is so
coarse that cattle scarcely ever touch it. It isa most troublesome
weed on road-sides, and will spring up from its roots after being cut
down several times.”
E. verticillata, Roxb., Fl. Ind., I., 346; Cynosurus verticallatus,
Septochloa verticillata, Kunth., Enum., I., 272.
Vern. Chihkhe or Kuri-Chinke, Kanjst, Jama.
Culm erect, smooth, 1—4 feet high, terete glabrous. Sheaths
loose, flattened. Leaves bifarious, flat. Panicle consists of 6—12
or more sessile secund spikes 1—3 in. long, the upper ones almost
digitate, the lower ones distant or verticelled. Spikelets 2—3 lines
long, numerous, impricate, in two rows, 8—12 flowered. Outer
empty glumes small andnarrow. Flowering glume broad, 3-nerved,
and ending into a short mucro or point. Seed oblong, enclosed in
a rugose pericarp.
It isarare grass, though widely spread over India, and Africa,
Australia, &c. It is considered to be a good fodder grass. I have
before me specimens of this grass received from Bengal and North-
West Provinces—none from this Presidency.
E. mucronata, Willd., Enum., 1029; Steud., Syn. Pl. Gluin., L.,
112.
Vern. Gondi-Natchni, Katali, Gondwal (Poona names).
“BOMBAY GRASSES. 377
Culm erect, simple, not ramous, about 3 foot high. Sheath hairy.
Ligula short, ciliate. Leaves flat, tapering to a fine point, ciliate.
Spikes digitate, 3—5, often reduced to one, secund, about % of an
inch long or shorter. Rachis terminated in a distinct mucro.
Spikelets numerous, densely imbricate, arising from the lower or
outer part of the rachis, 5—3 flowered. Flowering glume tapering
into a short mucroniform point; keel sparsely ciliate.
It is a short species, producing often one spike only. Specimens
received from Khandeish, Nassik, and Poona. Itis very common
in some places of the latter district. It has close affinity to
EH. Aigyptiaca, if not the same species. I have described it because
there is a specimen thus named by the late General Munro and kept
in the Herbarium of the Poona College of Science.
E. flagellifera, Nees, in Royle’s Herb. ; H. Arabica, Hochst, Steud.,
Syn. Pl. Glum., 1., 211. H. stolonafera, R. Br. Prod.
Vern. Veli, Daundi, Chimbar, Ganthia, Ganth dob, Gurdub (Royle),
Chubret, Bharu, Chembar, Gathil, Karimbor, Dubra (Duthie)—Peren-
nial. The whole plant is glaucous.
Culms many, creeping and arising from the bulb-like rooting
nodes. The base covered with dry sheaths. These ciliate at the
mouth, Leaves narrow, linear, lanceolate, acuminate, rigid, distant,
upper very short. Spikes 2—5,6—7 lin. long, digitate, loose, imbri-
cate, 5—8 flowered. Glumes lanceolate, smooth, and obtuse, the
flowering one acute. This grass lies prostrate over the ground
and creeps over more than two feet. Not uncommon on hard
and arid soil in Poona and West Khandeish, where it is con-
sidered to be a good fodder for cattle and horses. In Northern
India it is also valued as a good fodder.
FE. Scindica, Duthie, Fodder Grass of India, 58; Dactyloctennum
scindicum, Boissier.
Vern. Mandjiro, Bhobra, Bobriya, Ganthia, Ganti-grass, Jangli
Malicha, Kakro-Makro. Perennial. Culm creeping and rooting at
the lower rather thickened nodes. Flowering stem long, slender,
erect, naked at the upper part, 2—23 ft. long. Leaves short,
15—23 inches long, very narrow, about 1—1} ins. large, acuminate,
flat, edges ciliate at the mouth from bulbous base. Spikes 3—5 ins.,
digitate,4—5 lin. long, slightly curvate, rather thick, secund. Rachis
378 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
mucronate. The two lower glumes empty, the lowermost acute, the
upper larger and produced into a short oblique mucro. Flowering
glume oblong, acute, its scabrid keel ending into a short mucro.
This slender grass grows in the plains of North-Western India
and Aden.
It is reckoned to be a good fodder grass.
FESTUCACEA.
Arundo-donax, Linn. ‘This tall and beautiful grass with its
varieties are extensively cultivated in gardens all over India.
It is common in the South of Europe, in the region bordered by
the Mediterranean Sea, and in’ Hast Asia. It may be said to bea
classical plant, as its culm was first used in the manufacture of
musical instruments, during the bucolic times, when man entirely
or chiefly leda pastoral life. The pipes, or flute of Pan, of 7 tubes,
the invention of which is lost in the mists of antiquity, was made of
the culm of this plant. Virgil, in chanting the praises of Varus,
speaks of this plant thus :-—
Agrestem tenius meditabor arundine musam.
And in another place we read that this reed furnished the
arrow—
Utque levi Tephyro gracilis vibrator arundo.
The plant is now used for the support of vines and other climbing
plants, and also for many domestic purposes, walking sticks, fishing
and measuring rods being made of it and also musical pipes. The
reed often mentioned in the Bible is believed to be the culm of this
plant or of the followimg species. Both are common in Palestine.
The leaves are eaten by cattle.
Puracmites, Trin.
This genus is closely allied to Arundo, the difference being that in
Phragmites the lowest flower of the spikelet is male.
P. Rowburght., Kunth., P. Kurka, Roxb., Fl. Ind., I., 347.
Vern. Deonal, or Deonal, Nal (Roxb.), Karka (Watt), Naga-Sava,
Patoo-ederoo (Teling, Roxb.), Nuda-nar, Narkut, Narkat, Narsal
Nar, Naria, Nai (Steward, Duthie).
Culm, erect, stout, perennial, piped, 6—12 feet high, covered
with the leaf sheath up to the inflorescence. Leaves flat, lanceolate,
BOMBAY GRASSES. 379
in luxuriant plants, 12—20 feet long, and about an inch broad,
margins scabrous.
Panicle loose, 1-14 feet long, erect, composed of numerous filiform,
scabrous branches, generally of a purplish-brown colour. Spikelets
numerous, crowded, flowers 3-5 in each. Glumes oblong, lanceolate,
4—5 lin. long. Inferior flower male, its flowering glume linear,
subulate. Superior flowers hermaphrodite. Glumes glabrous,
but they are covered with long silky hairs from the rachis.
P. angustifolia, P. nejialensis, Nees, and Arundo bifaria, Retz.,
appear to be varieties of P. communis. Trin. Kunth. Enum. I. 251.
It grows all over India; in this Presidency, it is rare, occurs chiefly
near the margins of rivers and lakes. I have before me at present
specimens received from Dhund. The creeping root is very long,
often measuring several feet. The large panicles, when dry, form
an ornament for vases for the drawing room, &c. Pipes are made
of the culms, particularly those used by the people who carry about
dancing snakes. The common Durma mats of Bengal are made of
the stalks split open. Vessels from the port of Calcutta are gener-
ally dunnaged with them. Roxb.
Phragmites communis has a very extensive range,
From the hollow reeds he fashioned,
Flutes so musical and mellow,
That the brook, the Sebowisha,
Ceased to murmur in the woodland,
That the woodbirds ceased from singing,
And the squirrel, Adjidaumo,
Ceased his clatter on the oak-tree,
And the rabbit, the Wabasso.
Sat upright to look and listen.
LONGFELLOW’s “ Hiawatha.”
Exyrropuoras, Beauv.
H, Articulatus, Beauy., Agr., 14, fig. 2; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb.
FL., 316; Dactylis spicata, Willd. in Nov. Act., i, 415. Hchinaly-
sium strictum, Trin., Fund., 142.
Ver. Kemshi, Jungli Rala (small seed); Chimansar, Poshe, Suria,
Ket kapurt, Balha Kolhati,
An erect glabrous annual 6 inches to 1 foot high including the
inflorescence. Sheaths loose. Leaves flat, longer than the culm.
380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Inflorescence a green cylindrical spike 1-6 inches long, consisting
of numerous small, flat, few-flowered (3-7 flowered) sessile spikelets,
disposed in dense globular clusters, crowded so as to form one con-
tinuous spike or the lower clusters, distant. The inflorescence is
often shortly branched at the base. The outer glumes two, mem-
branous, narrow-keeled, shortly awned or pointed, subequal,
about one line long, without the awn. Flowering glumes 8-nerved,
tapering into awns, which are as long or longer than the glume.
Palea folded, with two dorsal wings. Stamen one. Grain smooth.
It is common all over India, Australia and Africa. It grows near
water-courses and in rice fields, looks something like Setaria
spicata, at a little distance.
Uses not known.
Hracrostis, Beauv.
E. ciliaris, Link.; Poa ciliaris, Linn.; P. ciliata, Roxb., Flor.
Ind., I., 336.
Ver. Undar--puncho, Tor Chandbol (Campbell).
Annual, culms erect, rigid, procumbent below, three inches to
one foot high, leaves narrow, linear, pubescent at the insertion into
the sheath.
Panicle narrow, spike-like, occasionally branched from below.
Spikelets 5—8, sometimes more, flowered. Glumes acute.
Flowering glume distinctly 3-nerved, cuspidate-ciliate at the
margins. Palea with long, white, stiff hairs. Seed obovate,
globose, smooth, dark coloured.
Grows all over India and in Arabia in sandy soil. Common in
Poona, Damaum, Domus, Guzerat, &c.,
E. brachystachya, E. Arabica, Jaub. and Spach, t. 322. This is
a variety of the last and grows in the same localities. The imflores-
cence consists of a dense cylindrical spike, resembling that of
Ziluropus lugopototdes.
I have gathered specimens, some very small, not longer than one
inch, on the polo ground, Poona.
It is eaten by cattle.
E. tenella, Beauv. Benth., Fl. Honk., 4381; Poa tenella, Linn.,
R. Br. Prod., 181; Roxb. Fl. Ind., I., 337.
BOMBAY GRASSES. 381
Ver. Dhooria, Bharbhurt, Mondiajort, Ichcoi (Campbell).
Tufted annual. Culm erect, smooth, six inches to near two feet
high. Leaves flat, narrow, pointed towards the end, smooth, glabrous,
rather scabrous at the margins. Panicle very long and narrow,
occupying the greater partoftheplant. Branches numerous, filiform,
usually much divided, ascending, or the lower ones verticillate or in
clusters. Spikelets pedicillate, numerous, very small, ovate, 3-4
rarely 6-flowered, often tinged red, Glume thin, almost hyaline,
obtuse, loosely imbricate, rachis articulate, palea glabrous. Seed
oval, brown, smooth.
Grows all over India. Not common in this Presidency. Whilst
writing these notes, I have before me specimens from the cultivated
ground in Bassein. It is said to be good fodder, much appreciated
in Australia. Mr. Duthie says “common in the plains of Northern
India, specially in cultivated ground along with sugar-cane, juar,
and arhar. Itis eaten by cattle both fresh and dry.
H. nutans, Nees, Steud. Syn., Pl. Glum., I., 264; Dalz. and Gibs.,
Bomb. Fl., 297; Poa nutans, Retz., Obs., IV., 19; Roxb., Fl. Ind.,
I, 837; HL. interrupta, Beauv., Agrost., 71; Poa interrupta, Koenig,
Roxb., Fl. Ind.
Ver. Pohe, Poche, Dhooria (Bassein name), Ghodila, Ghorila
(Teling name Nakurmaral and Urenke, Roxb.), Chikst (Khardi),
Madra (Khardi, Thana), Shetpatra (Bheundi, Thana).
Culms single, erect, glabrous, 3—5 ft. high. Leaves narrow,
long, scabrous. Panicle linear-contracted, 1-2 ft. high; branches
filiform, solitary, two or more from nearly the same place, giving
the panicle a verticillate appearance, lower branches are often
distant. Spikelets pedicelled, smooth, glabrous, often tinged red,
8-14 flowered. Seed oblong.
It is a tall species with beautiful long drooping panicles, often of
purple coloured spikelets, growing in large quantities in good,
moist soil near the banks of rivers and streams, in water holes, and
borders of rice-fields all over India and Ceylon.
It is not considered to be a good fodder grass. Cattle eat it,
when other food is not available. Report from Khandeish says that
it is a good fodder for buffaloes.
E. ptlosa, Beauv. Agrost., 71; Poa pilosa, Linn.; P. verticillata,
382 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Cay. Ic., t. 938. EH. parviflora, Trin., Mem. Acad. Petersb., 1831, 411.
Ver. Burwai, Chiriaka-dana, Kutakt.
Annual Culms slender, ascending, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves flat,
narrow, linear, acuminate.
Sheaths shortly pilose atthe mouth. Panicle 6 in. to 1 ft. long;
branches numerous, capillary, at first appressed, afterwards (when
in fruit) spreading. Pedicels longer than the spikelets. Spikelets
minute, 2-4 lin, long, narrow, linear, the lower ones in verticels,
6-11 flowered, often tinged with purple. Glumes thin, keeled,
the lateral nerves obscure. Flowering glume glabrous. Palea
obscurely ciliate. Grain ovoid, oblong.
Grows in West Khandeish, Poona and Nassick, also “ in the plains
of Northern India, usually in damp and swampy ground, where it is
relished by buffaloes.” In Khandeish, Poona, Nassick, and Ajmere,
and in Australia, it is considered to be a good fodder grass. This
grass 1S also very common in Ceylon. _
EH. megastachya, Link., Hort,, I., 185; H. major, Host. Gram., IV.
t. 24. Megastachya Eragrostis, Beauv., Agrost., 14. Poa megasta-
chya, Koel., Gram., 181.
Ver. Ran Pohe, Phole (Goaname), Pohe, Kaodia, Chiriyake chaolay
(Royle).
Annual, culms ascending or erect. Sheaths glabrous, at the
mouth pilose. Leaves narrow linear. Panicle large, ovate-oblong,
inferior branches pilose at their origin. Pedicels shorter than the
spikelets. Spikelets large, flat, linear oblong, solitary or in clusters,
15-20 flowered. Flowering glume shortly mucronate; lateral nerves
prominent.
Common all over the Bombay Presidency and the plains of North-
ern India, up to 5,000 feet on the Himalaya. Mr. Duthie states that
it is used more or less. as fodder, but in this Presidency it is not used
as such. .
EH. tremula, Hochst., Herb. Poa tremula, Lain, Ill., I., 185. P.
multiflora, Roxb., Fl. Ind., I., 189; Hragrostts multiflora, Dalz. and
Gibs., Bomb. F1., 298.
Ver. Chiraka, Chirika ket, Chirika chauvalia, Kalunji (Royle).
Annual, culm suberect, round, smooth, 6-18 inches high or higher.
Sheaths sparsely pilose at the margins and the mouth. Ligula very
BOMBAY GRASSES, 383
minute, ciliate. Leaves short, few, mostly from the base, narrow
and tapering to a fine point. Panicle longer than the rest of the
plant, oblong, bending, many branched, lax; branches thin, pilose
at the axils. Pedicels capillary, equalling or longer than the spike-
lets. Spikelets linear, very long, obtuse, many flowered, nodding.
Flowering glume ovate, obtuse, three-nerved, nerves distinct, the
median prominent. Grain round, smooth.
Found near Gogo, on the Kattywar Coast, Lanowli on the left of
the road leading to Poona, and on other dry elevated places.
Not used on this side. Its foliage is too scanty to be of much
value. It is considered to be good fodder in Ajmere. “Its grain
is said to have been extensively utilised by the starving population
in certain parts of the Punjab during a famine which took place
about 60 years ago, and which is even now remembered as the
lukkiwala sal’ (Duthie). The very slender pedicels, which support
the long spikelets, give rise to the constant tremulous motion
exhibited by this species, when in flower.
FE. Brownei, Nees, Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum., I, 279. Poa Brownet,
Kunth., Hnum., I, 333. P. polymorpha, R. Brown, Prod., 180.
Ver. Fulia, Chikta, Chimanchara, Chott khidi, Jenkua, Khari.
Culm usually 6 inches to 1 foot high or higher, glabrous. Sheaths
glabrous, except atthe mouth, where sometimes a few cilia are noticed.
Leaves glabrous, narrow, flat, or convolute. Panicle very variable,
sometimes quite simple, and with dense spikelike branches, or with
long distant spreading branches, Spikelets very shortly pedicelled,
flat, very small, tapering to a point. 10-20 flowered (10-40 flowered
Benth.). Flowering glumes closely distichous, glabrous, their lateral
nerves distinct, nearly central on each side. Grain ovoid, oblong,
smooth, Spikelets are darkish in colour or pale. Found all over
Bombay, plains of North-West India and at lower elevations
on the Himalaya. It is said to grow in Ceylon and also in
Australia. In the latter country it is considered to be a good
pasture grass, yielding an abundance of feed both in winter and
summer.
E. unioloides, Nees, Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum., I, 264. Poa unio-
loides, Retz., Obs., V, 19; Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 339. Uniola Indica,
Dalz., and Gibs., Bomb. Fl., 298. Hragrostis Amabilis, W and A.
50
384 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Ver. Pot, Poke, Mott chava, Chota loniya and Lonitya, Konee
(Bengal, Roxb.).
Culm slightly decumbent at the base, ascending 1-2 ft. high,
ramous, round, smooth, glabrous. Mouth of the sheath bearded.
Ligula very small. Leaves short, linear, lanceolate. Panicle ovate,
oblong, half the length of the plant or longer, dense, erect, ramous ;
branches filiform, short, horizontal, fascicled below, solitary above.
Pedicels long, very slender. Spikelets flat, ovate, 16-20 flowered,
white or with a bluish-purple tinge. Flowerig glume 3-nerved,
nerves distinct. Grain oblong and smooth. Common in India, up
to 5,000 feet on the Himalaya, usually on wet ground. Also in
Ceylon. When growing on the banks of streams or on wet places, it
is a very handsome grass. Graham in his Catalogue Bombay
Plants, p. 236, calls it “the most elegant of all the grasses.”
Report from Shapur says that it is used there as good grass for
horses and cattle.
FE. elegantula, Nees, Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum., I, 266; Poa elegantula,
Kunth., Enum., Pl., I, 346; Poa elegans, Roxb., Fl. Ind., 1, 339.
Ver. Todha, Asara, Chota Asara, Kaluargt.
Culm erect, simple, round, ascending, 1-4 feet high. Sheath
glabrous, except at the mouth. Leaves few, short, glabrous.
Panicle oblong, nodding ; branches solitary, rather distant, adpressed.
Spikelets pedicelled, 8-12 flowered, linear, of a purplish colour.
Flowering glume 3-nerved, nerves distinct. Grain globular, smooth
and brown.
A very elegant tall species, found in wet ground in Salsette,
Khandeish and Poona. Also not uncommon in the plains of North-
West India. It is eaten by cattle either fresh or dry. From Poona
it is reported “ to be good fodder but rare.”
EH. mucronata, Roth., Nov. Pl., Sp., 92, Sub. Poa; Steud., Syn.
Pl. Glum., I. 267.
Culm in the specimens seen 13-2 feet high, slender, smooth,
striated, the middle stria or line is deeper, glabrous. Ligula
minute, ciliated. Sheath glabrous, generally shorter than the inter-
nodes. Leaves narrow, ending in a fine point, glabrous, 6-8 inches
long. Panicle 4-5 inches long, racemose. Pedicels filiform, equal to,
shorter or longer than, the spikelets. Spikelets 2-3 lin. long, 9-13-
BOMBAY GRASSES, 385
flowered. Flowering glume obtuse or slightly emarginate and
shortly mucronate.
Specimens received from Halyal, North Kanara, where it is found
on road sides and in open places.
Uses not mentioned.
E. plumosa, Trin., Var. a, In Act. Petrop., 6, 1, 398; Pow plumosa,
Retz. Obs., IV, 20; Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 338; Tsjama-pulu, XII, t. 41.
Ver. Dhane, Chirika-khet, Chirika-bajro, Bharbhuri, Bharbust,
Bara Churbhura.
Annual, culms many, filiform, ramous, smooth, round, glabrous,
erect, from 1-2 feet high. Leaves linear-acute. Sheaths pilose at
the mouth. Panicle ovate-oblong or somewhat pyramidal, diffuse.
Branches many, ramous, alternate, horizontal, with a few short hairs
at the axils. Spikelets minute, lax, pedicelled, dependent, from 4 to
7-flowered. Pedicels much longer than the spikelets. Outer glume
smooth, glabrous. Flowering glume obliquely truncate, with hairs
on the dorsum. Palea ciliate with spreading hairs, seed oblong,
smooth, brown. Is common in Bombay, Konkan, and along the
coast, in the plains of Northern India, especially on the sandy soils;
it is also abundant on saline usar soil in company with the usar
grass (Sporobolus orientalis). It is also said to be common in Ceylon,
in the warmer parts of the island. The panicles of this grass pre-
sent various forms; they are in some varieties so narrow and con-
tracted as hardly to be distinguished from LH. ciliaris, Link. In
. Allahabad it grows well along with dub and makes useful light hay
for mixing with coarser hay eaten both by horses and cattle. In
Ajmere it is also considered to be a good fodder grass. In
Bombay it is eaten by cattle when young.
E. stenophylla, Hochst., Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum., [, 266.
Annual, culm erect, striated, glabrous, 1} feet and more.
Sheaths striated, pilose at the mouth. Ligula almost none. Leaves
very narrow, linear, glabrous. Panicle erect, contracted, 4-5 inches
long. Branches numerous, erect, fascicled. Spikelets linear, 12-20-
flowered, ash-coloured. Flowering glume very narrow, minutely
serrulate.
Specimens received from various parts of the Konkan and Kanara.
Uses not known.
386 YOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
E. minutiflora, Pres]. in Rel. Haenk ; Poa biflora, Retz. Obs., V, 19;
Kunth., Enum., 1,363. Culm erect or ascending, striated, glabrous,
rather scabrous, 2 feet high or more. Sheaths lax. Ligula mem-
branaceous. Leaves narrow, lanceolate, acute or acuminate. Panicle
narrow, dense, spike-like, very small, 12 inches long. Lower
branches alternate, upper verticillate. Spikelets very small, 3-
flowered. Glumes ovate, glabrous, one-nerved, flowering glume
3-nerved.
Found growing in North Kanara.
Uses not known.
E. viscosa, Trin. in Act Petrop., I, 397; Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum.,
I, 265; Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. Fl., 298; Poa viscosa, Retz. Obs.,
IV, 20; Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 337.
Ver. Bhurbur, Bhurbusi, Chikti, Bhulni, Chipal (Duthie).
Culm ascending, cespitose, 9-19 inches long, viscid. Sheaths
glabrous, mouth clothed with long white hairs, as also the ligula.
Leaves rather short, narrow, tapering to a point, usually glabrous.
Panicle linear, oblong or thyrsiform, 2-5 inches long, branches short,
verticillate, spreading. Spikelets oblong, very shortly pedicelled,
6-20-flowered. Upper glume most frequently ciliated.
The whole plant, especially the inflorescence, is covered with a
viscid substance having a balsamic odour.
I have collected it in Chowpatty and Malabar Hill. Grows also
in the plains of Northern India on sandy soils, often accompanying
E. plumosa, and probably of equal value for fodder purposes. It is.
not found in Ceylon nor in Australia.
E. aspera, Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr., 408; Poa aspera, Jacq., Host. Vind.,
TIl, 56; Lam. Ill., I, 185; Poa paniculata? Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 340.
Culm erect, smooth, round, 3-5 feet high. Sheaths covered with
long white hair at the mouth. Ligula ciliated. Leaves in the
specimens before me are 2-3 lines broad at the base, soon becoming
very narrow and pointed. Panicle very large, very ramous, branches
numerous, spreading, filiform, generally alternate, their insertions
covered with rather long white hairs. Spikelets linear, oblong, 13
lin. long, on very long peduncles, 8-10-flowered (Roxb.’s Poa pani-
culata, 4-16-flowered). Peduncles scabrous. Glumes acute, nearly
equal. Flowering glume distinctly 3-nerved.
BOMBAY GRASSES. 387
Rare in India. Is distributed throughout tropical Africa and
South Africa, Abyssinia, and the Isle de France. My specimens are
from North Kanara.
Uses not known.
EL. poaeoides, Beauv., t. XIV, fig. 11; Roem. and Schult., 11,
574; Poa eragrostis, Linn., Sp. 100.
Ver. Sul.
Fibrous root. Stem erect or ascending, ramous, $-2 feet high or
higher. Sheaths glabrous or minutely pilose, lanceolate, acute.
Panicle not large; branches expanding, solitary or two together,
with or without hairs at their origin. Spikelets linear-lanceolate,
_ 8-20-flowered. Glumes obtuse. Flowering glume with prominent
lateral nerve.
My specimens are from Nassick, where it grows in khar lands and
has to be weeded out or it destroys the rice plant.
Grows also in the plains of Northern India and up to 8,000 feet
on the Himalaya.
Uses not known.
E. bifaria, W.and A. ; Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum., I, 264; H, secunda,
Nees, mpt: Poa bifaria, Vahl., Symb., IT, 19; Roxb., Fl. Ind., I, 333.
Ver. Chiraka, Punya-sufed, and Chota blankta, Moi, Wooda-
tallum ( Roxb.)
Culms erect, simple, wiry, glabrous, 1-2 feet high. Sheaths keeled.
Leaves narrow, carinate, complicate, rigid, glaucous, glabrous.
Spike simple, terminal, straight, 4-8 inches long. Spikelets sessile,
alternate, linear-lanceolate, compressed, secund, in two rows, upper
many flowered, the lower ones 4-6-flowered. In Poona, Bhusawal,
Pachora and in other dry places. Said to be used as a good fodder
in Poona. In Bhusawal it is not known as fodder. This species
grows also in sandy and rocky ground in North-West India, com-
mon in Rajputana. At Ajmere it is considered to be a good fodder
grass, and is eaten by cattle on Mount Abu. It is not reported
from Australia. In Ceylon is not uncommon up to an elevation
of 5,000 feet.
It has a close affinity to EH. coromandeliana, Trin., found growing
in Coromandel.
E. cynosuroides, Roen. and Schult., Syst., II, 577; Dalz. and Gibs.,
388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892,
Bomb. Fl., 298; Pow cynosuroides, Retz. Obs., IV, 20; Roxb., FV.
Ind., I, 334. :
Ver. Darbha, Dab, Dhab, or Dib, Kussa, Koosha, Drab, Dabvi,
Durer.
Perennial, witha thick creeping root. Culm thick, reed-like, terete,
covered atthe base, with withered sheaths of leaves 1-3 inches high.
Sheaths glabrous. Ligula ciliate. Leaves rigid, flat, the young
root leaves convoluted, 4-8 inches to 1 foot long, acute, hispid,
especially at the margins. Panicle spike-like or conical, elongated,
4-2 feet long, branches numerous, dense, racemose, horizontal,
short, rigid. Spikelets sessile, secund in two rows, from the
underside of each branch, -distichous, 6-12-flowered. Flowering
glume ovate, lanceolate, obsoletely nerved.
In Guzerat, West Khandeish, Nassick, also in the plains of
Northern India in all kinds of soils, especially in places where water
collects, its long vigorous rhizome-like roots serve to keep it fresh
even in dry weather. It is said to be eaten by buffaloes; as a rule,
cattle donot eat it. Whenin flower it is considered to be an indiffer-
ent kind of fodder. When other kinds of fodder are wanting, it is
often given mixed with gram and wheat. It is stated that its strong
fibres are used in Northern India for the ropes of the Persian wheel,
where they will last for three menths or more. The fibres are also
used in some parts of Guzerat to make a sort of coarse paper. This
grass is employed by the Brahmins in their religious ceremonies.
Kussa, the Sanskrit name of this much-venerated grass, was given
to it at a very early period by the Hindu Philosophers, and believed
by Sir William Jones to have been consecrated to the memory of
Oush, one of the sons of Ram (Roxb.), It is enjoined in the Shravan
Puran that the Dharb should be collected or rather pulled out of the
ground on Pithori Anvashya. Only plants thus collected are fit for
use in religious ceremonies. They are also employed in various
funeral ceremonies, such as tarpan. It is often spread beneath the
dead bodies, the chief mourner wearing a ring of it on his finger.
An infusion of the root is used as a diuretic all over India.
CrentotHeca, Desv.
C. lappacea, Desv., Kunth. Enum., 1, 366; Beauv. Agrost.,
t. XIV., fig. 7.
BOMBAY GRASSES. ~- 389
Culm erect or geniculate below, glabrous, 14 feet or more. Sheath
loose, shorter than the internodes, striated. Ligula short, irregu-
larly jagged. Leaves 7—8 lines, broad in the middle, flat with many
prominent parallel nerves, joined by transverse veins, glabrous.
Panicle terminal, 8—10 ins. long, branched ; branches long, rather
distant, at first erect, then patent or divergent. Spikelets 2 lin.
long, loosely inserted, shortly pedicellate, two-flowered. Both flowers
ferti'e, one (lower flower) sessile, and the other shortly pedicelled.
First glume ovate, acuminate, 3-nerved, with a prominent keel very
shortly prolonged at the upper end; margins smooth and almost
hyaline; second glume similar to, but nearly twice as large as,
the first. Flowering glume of the first or sessile flower similar,
but nearly 1} times as large as the second glume. Palea distinctly
two-ribbed, lanceolate. Flowering glume of the second (pedicellate)
flower 5-nerved, obtuse, keel runs at the upper end into a short
point; margins marked with stiff reflexed bristles, rising from
bulbous bases. Caryopsis fusiform, brown.
The specimens examined by me were received from North Kanara
where “the grass grows in shady ever-green forests.” All were
two-flowered as described above. Mr. Bentham describes a variety
called C. biflora from Rockingham Bay, Delachy, the spikelets of
which are small, with only two flowering glumes like the Indian
species.
AAuvrorus, Trin., Fund. Agrost.
Ai. lagopodioides, Trin. Fund.; 4. levis, Trin., Fundam; Dactylis
littoralts, Linn., Sp. Pl.; Roxb., Fl. Ind., 1.,3842 ; Dalz. and Gibs.,
Bomb. Fl., 298; Poa brevifolia, Roxb., Fl. Ind., I., 342.
Vern. Luni, Mother Dhodar.
Culms creeping, then ascending ; the erect part 6—12 ins, high or
higher, branched; branches single, short. Ligula small, pilose.
Leaves short, lanceolate, from a broad base, rigid, convolute and
pungent at the apex. Spike terminal, ovoid or sub-rotund, long,
peduncled, white-flowered, dense. Spikelets 4—8 flowered. Outer
glume 3-nerved; second glume nearly equal, 3-nerved, keeled, acute,
Flowering glume ciliate at the back. Caryopsis compressed, smooth,
bright. Common on salt ground, near the sea. “It is the first erass
390 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
to grow on land reclaimed from the sea. ”’ (Davidson, of the Revenue
Survey.) ‘‘ Cryspis aculeata takes the place of this grass in Sind.”’—
Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. Fl., 299. It is described also from the
Western parts of the Punjab, where it takes the place of dub, which
it resembles somewhat in habit (Duthie). Is common in Ceylon
or sandy ground near the sea (Fergusson).
Uses not known.
LIST OF BIRDS’ EGGS.
Presented to the Society by Mr. E. C. S. Baxmr, of
Nortu Cacuar, August, 1892.
Hume's + ts | No. of
Nos, Satie Pes Popular Name. Eggs,
82 Hirundo rustica......acs--ceeoreeee.| Common Swallow-....cccccews..| 6.
102 bis.) Cypsellus infumatus...............| Palm Roof Swift .........s000| 6
109 Caprimulgus albonotatus.........| Large Bengal Night-Jar . 2
116 Harpactes erythrocephalus......; Red-headed Trogon .. i 3
166 Chrysocolaptes sultaneus........ | Golden-backed Woodpecker Sool) LL
172 Gecinus occipitalis ...............) Black-naped Green Woodpecker. th
180 Brachypternus aurantius......... Golden-backed Wondnecee ee 3
187 Sasia ochracea ......é.....-..+e....| Rufous Piculet -........-.6...s0008. 2
195 Megalema asiatica ...............| Blue-throated Barbet Seoaobaagocal|) |
196 Megaleema franklinia .........,..| Golden-throated Barbet ......... 3
220 Taccocua sitkee.......ce.s.ess-...| Bengal Sirkeer .......0..006 naseees 2
286 Chibia hottentotta... w..cesecsesres Hair-crested Drongo .........+. 4
289 Muscipeta affinis ..................| Burmese Paradise Flycatcher...} 9
290 Hypothymis azurea ..,..,.........| Black-naped Blue Flycatcher...| 1
302 ‘Siphia albicaudata ...............| Neilgherry Blue Flyeatcher......} 3%
306 Cyornis tickelli.........,...........| Tickell’s Blue Redbreast ......... nee
343 Myiophoneus temmincki......... Yellow-billed Whistling Thrush. 3
399 Pellorneum ruficeps ...............| Spotted Babbler ........ aie 4
399 bis.| Pellorneum mandellii ............| Mandelli’s Spotted Babbler...... 1
444, Hypsipetes psaroides ............| Himalayan Black Bulbul.. 3
451 Criniger flaveolus.................,] White-throated Bulbul ......... 2
456 Rubigula flaviventris ............ Black-crested Yellow Buibul .. 7
532 Prinia flaviventris..................| Yellow-bellied Wren Warbler...| 6
538 bis.| Prinia beavani ..................--.| Beavan’s Wren Warbler ......... 3
586 Henicurus schistaceus............ Slaty-backed Fork-tail......... 3
623 Ixulus flavicollis ..................| Yellow-naped Flower-pecker ..| 2
624 bis.| Staphidea castaneiceps .........| Chestnut-headed Staphidea 4,
631 B. | Zosterops simplex..................| Swinhoe’s White-eye :
645 Parus nipalensis .......0+.:...-..| Indian Grey Dib........ iegaasneene 2
673 Cissaichinensis) ca jceseascoter seacse |G TCOU daiy ites hisssiesenteeaes ster yeal RES
694 ter.| Ploceus maces hvac ie. Licsueceee|) HASbEPMSBAV A ceesccce tes aeeeceaneee | mmEnCl
702 Amadina acuticauda ............| Himalayan Munia...,.....c0....| 4
Total number of Hggs. .........] 108
Cee ee eee ee eee al
REVIEW. 391
REVIEW
ON
* The Mammalia of India—(covtinued from page 251).
The Black-buck is a more beautiful and interesting animal than
Tetraceros, almost as widely distributed in India, and, like it, found
nowhere else.
Being a beast of the open plain, it is a great deal better known and
more popular. Mr. Blanford may be congratulated in this case, on
the scientific name that he has adopted, Antilope cervicapra.
In his Indian names he is unhappy. Mirga is bad Sanskrit for
Mriga, which is given just below (docked), as Hindustani “ Kalwit
is not Hindustani (or anything else) for the female. But“ Kalfhint ‘4
is Maratha for the male, on account of his black (Ké4la) skin.
“ B4mani Haran” is neither Uria nor Maratha, but bad Hindustani,
fit for the mouth of a Shikari. The word “ Phandayat” may be
Maratha ; perhaps one of our Maratha-speaking members will tell us.
Mr. Blanford gives a good set of average dimensions, and puts the
weight at “about 90 lbs.” apparently for both sexes. At any rate,
the present writer found that average obtain amongst many speci-
mens weighed in Khandesh, the Deccan, and Gujarat. Some exceeded
90 Ibs., none reached 100 Ibs,; and the heaviest female was as
heavy as any of the males, though the latter are commonly a little
the larger. A good many females were amongst those weighed,
because the writer often only shot, when meat was needed, in countries
where the bucks were mercilessly shot down by head-hunters in cow-
carts, and the herds could better spare those than the few surviving
stud-bucks.
Mr. Blanford describes the family of a Black-buck as “from 10
to 80 in number, but sometimes as many as 50,” and including two
or three-brown (young) bucks. But in the few places where the
bucks are not especially persecuted, the right proportion seems to be
about 2 dozen brown hides to one black one, and wherever they come
near twenty to one, the head of the herd shouldbe spared. Doe venisen
* Tue Fauna oF Britisu INpiA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND BuRMAH, Published under
the authority of the Secretary of State for Indiain Council. Mammalia, by
W. T. Blanford, F.8.8.
51
392 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
is moreover much better than that of the buck, and is good even up to
a stage in pregnancy, easily recognizable through field-glasses. It is
curious how little this fact is known to sportsmen. But any keeper
of an English deer-park will tell you the same thing.
Mr. Blanford mentions one pair of horns twenty-eight inches and
three-quarters long, from “ Rajputana and Hariana,” which is a
little vague. The longest known to the reviewer were in the posses-
sion of the Civil Surgeon, Khandesh, in 1872, and had been shot some-
where on what is now the border of Nasik and Khandesh, between
Dhulia and Malegaum.
- Probably, the Civil Surgeon in question, who is a member of this
Society, could give the right measurements. They cannot be much
less than Mr. Blanford’s maximum. In this Presidency, in 1892, an
eighteen-inch pair is worth having, and 20 inches a good pair;
94 inches is an unusual length in most districts. Mr. Blanford’s
distribution of his black bucks 1s good; but he omits Sind, where the
Antelope has been naturalized by the Amirof Khairpur. He is wrong,
however, in saying that it ‘‘ never enters forest or high grass, and is
’ In the early seventies, Antelopes
but rarely seen amongst bushes.’
were common in the low-lying forests of Western Khandesh, living
in the forest like Chital. They were sometimes driven out of the
Babul plantations of the Poona District by the beaters of the Poona
Hunt (of which the undersigned was Secretary, and managed the
beats).
And almost every quail-shooter in Gujarat must have seen them
put up like hares from grass and crops, and sometimes knocked over
with a charge of small shot in the neck. They constantly lie in
millet crops, which are nothing, after all, but tall grasses cultivated,
and they have been found in sugar-cane gardens.
He thinks it never drinks, and gives one case of its abundance,
where there is no drinking water but from a well on the long sand-
spit between the Salt Chilka Lake and the sea. But even there it
must rain sometimes.
There is no doubt that, like most of the group of desert antelopes,
it is very independent of water. But it has been known to come to
a well at night and drink from the cattle-trough, and even from the
puddles of waste water.
REVIEW. 393
Pantholops Hodgsoni.—The Tibetan Antelope follows the Black-
buck in Mr. Blanford’s list. But it is not a beast of Bombay, where
it is chiefly represented by the heads on our own walls. The next in
order, however, the Indian gazelle, was a common antelope throughout
our plains, and is still found in many of them, and still more in low
foot-hills and broken ground. This is not, as Mr. Blanford seems
to think, from preference, but because it has been driven into such
places by persecution. Where it can get leave to live ina plain, as in
some parts of Gujarat, it is quite at home there; and the present
writer has shot it in pretty thick forest in Sind and elsewhere from
thick lofty millet crops.
The natural home of the Gazelle, however, is barren ground with
a certain amount of scanty cover, whether in the form of bushes or
in that of rocks and ravines.
It is a shyer animal than the Blasi fewk, and knows better how to
hide itself, and, accordingly, long survives it in places where they
have been neighbours, and almost comrades. The native name, Chin-
kara (properly Chenkada), means ‘‘ sneezer,” and is given from its
peculiar alarm note usually accompanied by an impatient stamp.
When not seriously scared, it will simply trot away from a passer-by
with the action of a pony. Mr. Blanford thinks that it never drinks,
but tame specimens do, and the present writer has seen Chinkaras
go regularly to water, where there was no grass, and has seen their
tracks at such places. A Bhil hunter in Khandesh, in 1873, said
that he waited regularly for them at the water in the later forenoon.
Mr. Blanford’s maximum for buck’s horns is 14 inches. A pair in
the possession of Captain Tinling, 17th Bombay Infantry, in
1872, were said to be 16 inches ee and looked it, high up on a
wall.*
Mr. Blanford has rid us of a number of unnecessary synonyms.
Gazella Bennetti is the only Indian species, even Trans-Indus. His
Maratha name is wrongly spelt “ Kalsipi ” for Kalshipi or Kalshepat
(Blacktail), but Chenkada is as good Maratha. The old term
‘«‘ Ravine deer”’ is as bad as it can be, for the gazelle is not a deer, and
only lives in ravines when it is allowed no better quarters. It is
often monogamous, and appears to breed at all seasons of the year.
* These came from gome place near Kolhapur.
394 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Some one got Mr. Hornaday to believe that it.is not found south of the
Godavari, but it is in all provinces of this presidency, execpt the ©
Konkan and North Kanara.
A very ticklish weapon called ‘‘ Maru ”’ ( = Death) was made, cnet
for the use of gosains and other ascetics, of a pair of black buck
or gazelle horns steel tipped and set with the butts overlapping and
linked, in the form of parallel rules opened to a right angle with
their brass links.
This gazelle closes our list of Bombay antelopes. But the allied
G. subgutturosa occurs in Afghanistan down to Pishin: Its females
are hornless; ours have small horns.
After the gazelles come the Cervide, and Mr. Blanford begins his
description of these with one of the smallest, Cervulus Munijak.
As in other cases, he has cleared away a lot of useless Latin
synonyms and pseudo species; and his Maratha name is here nearly
right, “ Bekar”’ for Bekad; shared with the four-horned antelope.
The best English name is the Bengal one, “ Barking deer.”
With us this little beast, which belongs rather to the Malayan
fauna; is generally confined to the densest jungles of the Western
ghats and Satpura; outside of these, ‘‘Bekad” usually means Tetraceros.
They are continually mixed up together by both native and
English sportsmen; although resembling each other only im size.
Bombay horns are short, compared to those from further Hast and
South; and, indeed, the little deer is here on the very frontier of its
region.
Passing over several deer, not known within our province, we come
to an animal almost extinct in it, Cervus Duvauceli, the Swamp deer.”
Our author gives no Panjabi name, though he knows that the animal
exists in the Panjab. He gives the Sindi name as “Goin” not
“Knowin” that the terminal ‘‘d” is only dropped as the g in that
participle. The present writer has seen, like Mr. Blanford, the only
reliable evidence of the Swamp deer’s existence in Sind, viz., General
Marston’s heads, and those in the mosque at Ghotki im Shikarpur.
* Mr. Blandford has corrected the supposition that he, at any cate, miscontrued ~
a passage probably referring to this deer as concerning a Rhinoceros. His letter on
the subject will appear in next number.
REVIEW. Mi 395
One or two herds were supposed to exist in the Rohri Division of
the Shikarpur District in the early eighties, but it is not likely that
any survive there now, unless the foresters have managed to save
them: They are like the Tanna bison, and it will take our best
shikari to complete their extinction.
‘The term “Bara singa ”’ is ill-applied to this deer, though it often
has. 12 tines; because it was earlier known to Englishmen in connec-
tion with the Kashmir stag. In native mouths it is so vague that the
present writer has heard it used (in the Hatti Hills) as a distinctive
term for the female Sambar, which has no horns at all.
Skipping a deer foreign to us, we come to this very Sambar, one
of our noblest local beasts of chase. Mr. Blanford’s Latin title for
him, Cervus unicolor, has undeniable priority and propriety, and it is
a pleasure to be rid of “ hippelaphus”’ “ equinus,” and aristotelis,’’
which can scarcely have originated otherwise than in confusion of
the Sambar and the Blue Bull. His native names are better than
usual, but he omitsthe curious names, AKakada é and Barsing @., current
in the Hatti Hills; once if not now, the Sambar’s great metropolis,
where the lamented Forsyth, and after him the present reviewer, saw
the ground marked with Sambar tracks as if by flocks of sheep.
In one evening this writer, having occasion to feed over 100 hungry
men, shot three hinds for meat there, and might have shot a dozen.
The slaughter of the stags would have been useless, as they were
all at that season hornless and much inferior as food. One, which
had horns, was stalked by a comrade, but he lost one horn in the
furlong or so that he ran after receiving his death wound. In such
circumstances, the sparing of the best meat is a silly conventionality.
The thing to shoot is what man wants, till the land can afford no
more. And if any Gymkhana Shikari calls that pot-hunting, the
answer of the old hunter is that no man knows what shooting is until
he has shot for dear life; for his dinner; or as sometimes happens
to the naturalist, for a rare, perhaps unique, specimen.
A good deal of the mercy bestowed by ignorant sportsmen on
the females of polygamous fauna would be far better spent upon
the wearers of “second rate heads ;”’ that might have become first
rate ; and are no great credit to a wall, still less to a lumber-room—if
anything could grace that—their usual ultimate destination, One
396 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
of the most famous sportsmen of modern days told the present writer
that he had shot seventeen Black-buck in a week, and that the heads
were hardly worth keeping. He had better have used his field glass
more, and his rifle less. 'The meat was not wasted; but the region
could well have spared as many does; whose meat would have been
better. In this matter, as in some others, we need, as Dr.
Johnson said,—‘‘ to clear our minds of cant;” that is, of the use of
' mere stock phrases as if they embodied principles.
To return to our Sambar; he is now almost extinct in the Kon-
kan and Deccan proper, and the queer Akadi or “frog” for suspend=
ing the universal bill-hook of the forest tribes is now, if made of
Sambar horn, treasured as an heirloom; and hard to come by to
the curio hunter. Along the crest of the central Sahyadris ; and
still more in Khandesh, Kanara, and a part of Woodland Gujarat the
race is stronger and more numerous. Its development in the Central
provinces has been dealt with by another member in these pages.
If the Sambar is of our noblest, the Chital is perhaps our most
beautiful beast ; for in grace he equals the Black-buck, and though his
colours are scarcely so brilliant as those of several Fedide, he has a
charm of expression unattainable by a cat. The horns too are more
regular and elegant than those of the Sambar; or of any many-tined
stag. He is also a beast of taste; and always frames himself, if
allowed, in our best forest scenery ; green-wood with a water fore-
ground and mountain back-ground. It is pleasant to find that Mr.
Blanford simplifies his title to plain “Cervus awis.”? He gives no
Maratha name, but ‘‘ Chital”’ is good Maratha as well as Hindustani.
There is a place in this presidency where the present writer has seen
(he believes) and spared over a hundred and fifty spotted deer of a
morning ; preserving the beautiful herds as much as he could. But
in the Konkan and in most of our districts, 1t is almost an extinct
animal; being, indeed, a very easy one to approach or drive, and so
soft that it has been killed with a charge of No. 6 shot about the
neck. The hours of feeding and drinking vary with the amount of
human or bovine interference rather: more than Mr. Blanford seems
to think; but his account is not only generally accurate but very
readable ; the interest attaching to this lovely creature having lured
him out of his dogmatic compression.
REVIEW. 397
The next deer on his list, the Hog-deer, is less interesting, being ©
indeed little better than something to empty a gun-barrel into, and
a fit subject for its chief use in this presidency avé-the battues of the
Amirs of Sind, which deserve description on their own account.
The first step is to enclose a sanctuary as large as the sportsman
can afford, it may be 5 acres, it may be five hundred, witha Muhari,
that is a wattle fence some eight feet high. The ground within it
must contain thick cover, it matters little what; the usual thing
is scrub tamarisk from 10 to 30 feet high. There may be the
Euphrates poplar (bhan) reaching even to 50 feet.
In the ring fence there is one opening or more, according to the
size of the enclosure, and the number of guns meant to shoot, about
20 feet wide, rather less than more. On the right of this, as you
face inwards, is the ‘‘ Kunda,”’ a thatched shed with a floor raised on
piles some two feet above ground, and its front open, but for a
. brushwood balustrade rising some 18 inches or less above the corduroy
floor. Above, the eaves project far, usually at least three feet
beyond the balustrade. In such a building the gunner is almost
imperceptible, and shoots to his left, the easiest shot.
When the enclosure and gun-shed are once built, the ingress of
man or domestic beast into the sanctuary is forbidden, and all wild
brutes, in the course of a few months, learn to look on it as a safe
refuge.
To make things surer, for two or three days before a “big shoot,”
the whole neighbourhood is tormented with beaters, rockets, and shots,
even of camel-swivels and falconets. Naturally the game crowd
into what they have learnt to look on as a sanctuary, and care naught
for the “ kundas,” familiar to them, in their empty state, as the
surrounding trees. It is sometimes found that the space beneath the
floors of these has been a lair.
But on the day of the battue, the unhappy game wake up at
ungodly hours in the damp Sind mornings, to find one end of the
enclosure full of beaters with the fierce Sindi dogs. In every pass
out a cord is stretched across; in the “ kundas,” the guns peer over
the balustrade. The wretched hog-deer, driven to the gaps, come to
a full halt before the cord, and are shot down without regard to age
or sex, standing before the gun. It has happened to the present
398 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
writer to raise his rifle see that the buck was in velvet, and then —
lower it. On the remonstrance of the young heir, acting as host,
that his grandfather would be angry with him if one beast escaped
the guest’s rifle, it was raised again, and the buck died without know-
ing what killed him, having stood, while his lite was in argument,
much quieter than if he had been a man in the dock.
It was sickening, but the next shot was better. A huge boar,
with a dozen dogs behind him, came tearing through the tamarisks.
He knew the dangers of the gap well; and hurled himself at the fence
to the right of the guns, trusting to his weight to carry him through
it—which it did—dead. In such a place there is hardly any limit
to the slaughter possible. One of the writer’s assistants, then young,
killed eight bucks in one morning without counting does, fawns, or
pigs. Sometimes trapped hog-deer are put into the enclosure over
night. The only real shooting given is by the pigs, which
seldom start until the dogs are on their sty, and then go past at full
speed, caring naught about the string in the gap, or, like our wise
old boar, passing to the right of the ‘“ Kunda” and forcing their
way through the half-rotten fence, instead of giving the shot to the
left through the gap.
_ The whole procedure is intensely uncomfortable. You must rise
at ungodly hours ; ride through cold jungles dripping with dew, do
exactly what you are bid ; and curl your legs into Asiatic positions
for hours; in a hut of damp rotten brushwood and thatch. If you
smoke, drink, swear, stretch your legs, or do anything Christian,
every failure in the whole business must be laid upon your back. It
is therefore best, in these circumstances, to do all these things; and
to be a Political Agent.
Even so, you don’t get off easily. This writer had to shoot from
‘‘Kundas”’ two days running to please an imperative invalid
Amir who thought his bag not such as “‘ befat’”’ eleven guns; after
shamefully evading a first day and sending out the young fellows to
whom the thing was new.
On the third morning the “ Gros Veneur” and the prince of the
blood acting as Mihmandar intimated thatif the butcher’s bill was
not satisfactory, there were stripes before them, and all mercy to
the brute creation had to be cast to the winds.
REVIEW. 399
The thing is amusing for once, afterwards, unless: one gets leave
to spare something, merely disgusting. Mr. Blanford’s account of
the Hog-deer is good; he gives no weights, but the average of a full
grown buck is just one hundredweight. The reviewer has weighed
several large bucks of 120 Sbs., none over, out of about 100 weighed.
Our author, though justly suspicious of the Western India records
--of Hog-deer, all due to confusion with Tragulus. memimna, need not
have doubted the assertions of such authorities as Forsyth and Ball,
as to the animul’s distribution, and the reviewer does not. The skin
- makes a tolerable fur in the cold weather; and an excellent soft and
strong “chamois” leather, much used in the plain of the Indus for
leather ee camel’s housings, and other purposes:
The BérlaSe Deer, in Mr. Blanford’s Catalogue, is followed by the
Musk-Deer, not a Bombay beast. The next, however, the Mouse-
deer, is a common animal in the Ghat and Konkan forests, . Mr.
Blanford unnecessarily confines it to the Western Ghats, North. of
Bombay. The truth is that its small size, shy habits, and extremely
protective coloration (olive brown with dull white markings), make
it very hard to seein the forests. Huropean sportsmen seldom use
dogs here, and without dogs it is seldom brought to bag. It closes
the list of deer, and the next chapter is for the Grey Boar. At the
end of the deer, and before the swine, Mr. Blanford gives
the camels a couple of paragraphs, but does not describe
the Indian species; following his own precedent, the case
of Bos indicus. As both animals undoubtedly form part of the
Mammalian Fauna of India; the merit of this procedure seems
doubtful. He believes Prejevalisky’s wild camels to be the
descendants of tame specimens of C. Bactrianus ; which is possible
enough, but if itbe true that the Chinese annals record ancient
camel hunts in Prejevalisky’s region ; the original ancestor must have
strayed a long while ago. Camels do stray and make themselves
at homein the jungle in India, but usually singly. There was,
not long ago, a feral herd of camels in southern Spain, where
somebody had imported them for a special purpose not followed
_up.° There were wild camels in India once, for our author says,
_ Fossil remains of two extinct species have been found in the
Pliocene Siwaliks.”’
52
400 . JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATUEAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
The Grey Boar, it seems, is in future to be known as Sus cristatus,
and distinguished from the Wild Boar of Europe by its longer mane
and the proportionally greater size and complexity of the last molar
- in each jaw. The geographical distribution of these two species is
not settled. Mr. Blanford does not believe in the 40-inch boar,
and is sceptical about the 12-inch tusk.
He allows only two other Indian species, S. Andamanensis, which
grows to twenty inches high, and Sus Salvanius, the pigmy, not of
Nepal, which barely attains a foot in height.
The Hippopotamide, so lately reported from Bannu, were, our ~
author says, ‘“‘ probably contemporaries of man, a worked flint
having been found in the Nerbudda gravels that contain bones of
Hippopotamus.”
Hugh Falconer thought that the Sanskrit “Water Elephant”
was an Hippopotamus. Mr. Blanford thinks that he was a river
porpoise. It seems probable enough that he was neither, nor any-
thing else in life, but of the nature of the Gaelic “‘ Water-horse,”
still reported from Irish and Highland lakes.
We come now to the Indian Cetacea, of which very little is
known. Something had been said about them in these pages, by the
present writer, before the publication of the work under review.
No “ Right whale” without the dorsal fin cruises in Indian waters,
but if seems probable that our Fin-backed whales (Balenoptera) are
identical with Atlantic species, and that, in fact, the Fin-backs are
cosmopolitan. They are not common in the neighbourhood of
Bombay. The present writer has twice seen them within 30 miles
of the Prongs, and is aware of about a dozen cases of their being
stranded on the coasts of Tanna and Kolaba.
To the North-west, South, and West of Bombay, they are much
more common, but do not seem to enter the Gulf of Cambay.
The Sperm Whales or Cachalots are not recorded from these seas
at all, though at least two species have been seen in the Bay of
Bengal. One of these, Cogia breviceps, is little more than a porpoise,
and is followed by the porpoises.
The first of these is of some interest to us here, as a good deal of
the matter collected by Mr. Blanford in respect of it is ours, and
REVIEW. 401
the plate is from Mr. Sterndale’s drawing of a specimen of ours
published in these pages. ;
This is Phocenu phocenoides according to Mr. Blanford. It used
to be Neomeris phocenoides at the British Museum, but Mr. Blanford
sees no reason for separating it generically from Phoceena communis.
The difference is that the European Phocenew have a well-marked
back fin, and Neomeris has only a carunculated scar on the back
(not well described by our author), looking as if the back fin had
been cut off, and ending backward in a little angle. It is, indeed,
an obsolete back fin. ‘The abolition of a needless genus is a good
thing, and Mr. Blanford’s aid in this direction is here (as very often)
valuable. Unluckily, his contempt for Greek has led him into
what, if not a barbarism, is at least an absurdity, for Phocwna
phocenoides means ‘‘ the porpoise that is very like a porpoise,” whereas
‘the essence of this porpoise is that he is not like other porpoises in
a rather important feature. An almost identical porpoise has been
found in the great Chinese rivers, sivce such a discovery was
predicted in these pages.
Passing over several Dolphins of no immediate interest, we come
to another in which we have some property, the common spotted
Dolphin of Bombay harbour, which our author calls Steno lentiginosus
(it had been Delphinus and Sotalia). Mr. Blanford gives dimensions
of an adult female from Vizagapatam, and those of a specimen once
in our Museum, a large male. He doubts whether the Vizagapatam
measurements are from the fresh specimen, but on comparing
them with the Alibag measurements (made with steel tape
and standard on a Dolphin scarcely dead), there appears a
general ratio of about seven to nine. This, between female and
male Cetacea is not at all unreasonable, and the Vizagapatam
measurements must therefore be accepted as correct. Having come
from Sir Walter Elliot through Sir R. Owen, they might have claimed
this presumption from the first. The plate, however (from Elliot’s
figure drawn by a native artist), is a hideous caricature of a very
graceful animal. The plate of Delphinus delphis, at 587, gives a
much better idea of Steno than its own.
The last of the Indian Cetaceans, perhaps the most curious, and
the only one exclusively Indian (until lately, when we annexed the
402 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
whole habitat of Orcella fluminalis, the Irrawaddy porpoise) is
Platanista, the “ Bullan” of the Indus. Mr. Blanford refuses (rightly)
to separate this from the Gangetic species, and the specific name
Gangetica has precedence. It is also found in the Brahmaputra. It
was sufficiently noticed in these pages in the ‘‘ Waters of Western
India,” butit isonly fair here to say that the suggestion then put for-
ward of its probable method of entry into the Indus had been antici-
pated by an unknown contributor to the Imperial Gazetteer.
The Sirenia were formerly classed as ‘‘ Herbivorous Cetacea,’’ but
are now considered a distinct order, and have one representative in
our seas. This is Halicore Dugong, which is recorded from Ceylon,
Malabar, the Andamans, and the Mergui Isles. Mr. Blanford gives
it 15° range on each side of the equator, but this is probably an
under estimate. For (ashe himself remarks) the Dugong is probably
identical with H. Australis of Australian Waters, and H. Tabernacul
from the Red Sea.
The godfather of the latter (Ruppell) considered it to be the beast
whose skin was used in the Hebrew tabernacle (Exodus xxv. 6) and
is there called “ Seal skin.’ Our revised version hazards “ por-
poise skin” in the margin, which is more probable, but not as
good a guess as Ruppell’s. For seals are none in the Red Sea, and
porpoises not easy to catch. But Halicore TL abernaculi does inhabit
the Gulf of Suez, and gives its name to the Isle of Shadwan, at the
mouth of the same, which many of us have seen,. The Red Sea
Pilot also, like most sailors, and translators, calls him a “ seal’? in
that connection.
There is a doubtful but not an improbable record of a Halicore from
the Coast of Kattywar, anda few years ago a Bombay paper men-
tioned a strange carcass as stranded on our own island which (if
correctly described) was of nothing else. But our basaltic coasts
are too poor in Alge to maintain so large a marine herbivore.
Of the Edentata Mr. Blanford allows India three species of one
genus, Manis, of which one is found over most of this presidency,
the Scaly Ant-eater or Pangolin. We have specimens, and the
beast is not so rare as its shy and subterraneous habits might make
us think. But the present writer has no record of it from the
Konkan, and believes it to prefer drier regions more suited to its
MISCELLANEOUS. NOTES, 403
habits. Our old friend Mr. Hornaday has a delightful Singalese
yarn of its curling round the elephant’s trunk, and so choking him.
He gives also a good plate, Mr. Blanford’s (of another species)
is inferior in execution, perhaps not in fidelity. With this plate
ends our author’s list of the Mammals of India. Probably the most
noticeable addition to their roll, since he wrote, has been made in .
this Journal, in the record of Paradoxurus nictitatans (a name that
might well be cropped of a syllable).
On the whole, this work is much the best of the series, and it is
to be hoped that Mr. Blanford will do no worse in the Third Volume
of the Birds, which will describe all those of most interest to the
sportsman. If it is to be as dry as the first and second, its po-
pularity and value will be little above those of Mr. Murray’s “‘ Edible
and Game Birds.”
MISCELLANEOUS NOTKES.
No. I.—NEST AND EGGS OF THE CRESTED BLACK KITR.
(Baza lophotes).
On the 30th April, 1892, while out on a stroll, collecting birds in the Mepale
forests, which form part of the Thoungyin Valley, on the south-east frontier of
Tenasserim, I came upon a Crested Black Kite sitting on the top of a dry tree at
the edge of a small opening in bamboo and tree forest. I fired at the bird but
missed, and at the sound of the shot a second bird of the same species swooped
out ofa tall leafy tree some 30 yards off. As I have found the crested Black Kite
a somewhat rare bird, I sat down and waited to see if the birds would not return. In
a little while one did return to the dry tree, while the other commenced circling
round and round. JI again fired at the seated bird, but, to my disgust, missed, and
both birds flew off. However, I still thought if I hid myself, the birds might
chance to come back, and in a few minutes, to my delight, I saw one come. back and
alight on the leafy tree. Watching it for a bit I noticed that it moved along the
branch into a thick leafy part of the tree and remained there. I was then sure
there must be a nest somewhere, for the second bird also returned to its original
perch on the dry tree. Previous observations of Baza lophotes had shewed
me that it was a very shy bird, so the return of these two birds again and
again to the same spot could only be accounted for by their being nesting
there at the time. Determined to secure a specimen I again fired at the
last-mentioned bird but missed again; the tree was evidently too high for
the shot to take effect, and, as I afterwards found out, the local manufacturer
had kindly loaded my cartridges with 27 drams of powder, and then
404 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 139%.
filled the cartridge case up to the brim with No. 5, altogether about 2 0%.,
of shot. At this shot the bird that had disappeared into the leafy tree came
into view and sat on a branch close to where I concluded the nest must be.
I then fired at this bird with my usual luck, and both birds, after flying round for
a short time, returned, and sat side by side on the very top of the dry tree, erecting
their crests and looking for all the world like a pair of black and white cockatoos,
I watched them for some time, and made absolutely certain that they were crested
Black Kites. The sight being too tempting, I ventured again to fire, and I need
not say missed, the birds flying clear away, one, I am sorry to say, apparently
wounded. I sat there for some time, but as they did not return I strolled back to
camp, for I could not climb the tree myself, as its stem was about 8 feet in cireum-
ference at the base, and devoid of branches for about 10 feet. Next morning I
returned with a Karen who could climb. His proceeding was peculiar :—Cutting
a notch on the left hand side at about his own height, he struggled up and got
the big toe of his left foot into this standing, and clinging there he cut another
notch on the right side about waist high, and there placed his right foot, and thus
worked his way gradually up, cutting notches alternately right and left and
clinging tooth and nail. It took him a good half hour to reach the branches,
where he sat himself down and panted freely. Ina few minutes he was able to
make his way to the leafy spot where I had seen the Kite disappear the day
before, and to my delight reported that there was a nest containing 3 eggs, which
he suggested bringing down in his head-cloth, whereupon I threatened to shoot
him unless he came down and went up again with an egg box. This he was
finally persuaded to do, and after carefully packing the eggs he took the nest,
which he brought down complete. This latter was a regular hawk’s nest, about
one foot in diameter, formed of twigs and small sticks with a very slight depression
in the centre, lined with a few fresh Padouk leaves; it was placed on the horizontal
fork of a branch some 6 inches in diameter.
The eggs, which were very hard set, were of achalky white colour, one rather
stained with the yellow droppings of the birds. They are broad ovals in shape,
and measured 1°55 x 1°25, 1:5 1:22, and 1:4.x1°3, respectively.
The nest and eggs are now in the possession of Major C. T. Bingham at:
Moulmein. While the above-mentioned nest was being taken, from a Padouk
tree, some 50 yards away, a female Humis Goshawk Astur poliopsis flew off
which I shot, and seeing the nest I sent my Karen climber up, when in the
fork formed by a branch striking out from the trunk about 50 feet from the ground
he found anest containing two young birds and an addled egg, which he brought
down; the egg, which is not unlike the egg of the above mentioned Kite in colour,
but is more pointed at the small end and dreadfully dirtied by the droppings of
the birds, measured 161-1.
T. A. HANXWELL,
Deputy Conservator of Forests.
Moulmein, 30th May 1892.
MISCELLANKOUS NOTES. 408
No. II.-CURIOUS TUMOUR ON A BLACK BUCK.
The following’anecdote may be worthy of a corner in the Society’s Journal :—
Yesterday morning, shortly after my arrival here, my servants came and told me
that a very fine black buck was heading towards the tank, close to where my tents
were pitched. I went out taking my rifle with me to havea shot, and sure
enough the buck was heading straight on towards the tank. As he came nearer,
I noticed something very strange about him. In the first place he had only one
horn, and further he had a huge protuberance under his chest. I had a shot at
him, but missed as usual. Later on in the day he came again to the tank to
drink, and this time I had a good look at him at closer quarters, and decided that
with such an impediment as above mentioned I might perhaps be able to ride him
down, so this morning I went out to look for him, taking a Sowar with me; we
both carried spears.
After going about two miles from Camp, we came across him, not alone this
time but in a ¢olah of some 15 or 20 deer of both sexes. We gave chase, and this
buck at once separated from the rest of the herd, and after giving us a run of
between 3 and 4 miles we speared and got him. Sure enough one horn was
wanting; it had apparently been shot or broken off close to the head, and the
protuberance I had noticed was a huge goitre, or what the natives called
“«Russoli.’ When the buck was brought into Camp, I measured this swelling and
found it to be 11 inches long, 7 inches across, and 55 inches deep; it began just
between the forelegs and extended over the whole chest. On pricking the
swelling about 2 quarts of yellowish water poured out, and after skinning the
buck the goitre or “ Russoli” was removed and opened; it was composed of a
yellow sponge-like substance, apparently rotten, with large clots of blood here and
there. It appeared to be a thing of long standing, but had not been in the way
of the buck’s enjoyment of life, for he was in splendid condition, and evidently an
old buck, judging from his teeth. I measured the one horn and found it only
193 inches. I should think this swelling must have caused the beast great pain
when he lay down, and I noticed the hair all rubbed off on one side, which seemed
to show that he had been able to lie down only on one side, and that with
difficulty.
H. BULKLEY.
Camp Nal Baolt, 7th May, 1892.
No. I1I.—DOES A TIGER KILL SNAKES?
Qn opening the stomach of an old tigress bshot last month, I found in it the
tail-end of a snake that the tigress had bitten off and swallowed whole; the
portion swallowed measured 2 feet 3 inches in length. Though quite fresh, the
pattern of the skin was rather spoiled by digestion, and I am not sure what kind
of snake it was, but it appeared to me to be a rock-snake, There where no teeth-
406 JOURNAL, DOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
marks on it, nor was there any breakage of the bones. It seems somewhat
remarkable that a piece of this length should be bolted whole.
The natives thought that the tigress had caught it inthe water when she went to
drink. I should estimate the piece bitten off at about one-third of the snake’s
length.
The tigress had also made a heavy meal off a bullock.
J. D. INVERARITY.
Bycuila Club, June 28th, 1892.
——————,
No. IV.-A BEAR WITH THREE CUBS.
Bears usually bring forth two cubs at a birth, and I was not aware of any
instance of their having more, until last month, when shooting in the Central
Provinces, I shot an old she bear with three cubs. The cubs were about half-
grown or more, and in gender were two males and one female.
One of the male cubs was slightly smaller than the other two, but I have no
doubt they all belonged to the same litter (if that is a proper word to use in
reference to bears). It is not usual in other animals, eg., the dog and pig, for
one or more of the young ones to be smaller than their brothers and sisters. The
old one was closely accompanied by all three cubs during the whole beat.
J. D. INVERARITY.
Byculla Club, June 28th, 1892.
No. V.—A RARE SNAKE.
(Psammophis longifrons.)
Art the end of last month I received a specimen of Psammophis longifrons,
(Blgr.), 9, from Kalyan. According to the Fauna of British India (Reptilia
“and Batrachia, page 367) “only the head and neck of a specimen, which must
have been about four feet long, have been preserved by Col. Beddome, who
obtained this snake in the Cuddapah hills.” From this it appears that the
present specimen is the first which has been preserved entire. It was shot in
Kalyan from the top of a big Babool tree by Mr. D’Aguiar. As Mr. Boulenger
could only give a description of the anterior half of the snake, I may add a few
notes on the other half. The total length is 123 ctm. (nearly exactly four feet,
the estimated length of Col. Beddome’s specimen), tail 37°5 ctm., circumference
round the middle of the body 7:5 ctm., ventrals 173, anal and sub-caudals bifid,
sub-candals 98. The coloration slightly differs from that of the type. The head
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 407
is uniformly olive without any symmetrical undulating black lines, except a rather
faint oval mark on each of the parietals. From the occiput two narrow vertebral
black lines run a short distance down the neck. The anterior portion of the
neck is, like the head, uniform olive, but all the scales of the back and sides (not
only on the vertebral line), and those of the upper side of the tail down to the tip,
have broad black margins; beneath, as in the type, uniform white throughout.
For a Psammop his the snake is rather a thick-set animal, in appearance very much
like a Tropidonotus, and as it was shot from the top of a tree, its habits seem to
be more arboreal than those of its congeners.
F. DRECKMANN,
9th July, 1892.
No. VI—A PANTHER EATING A PANTHER.
Wiru reference to Mr. Barton’s note on the above subject in Journal No. 2,
Vol. VI., the following may be of interest to some of our members :—
In 1884 I was staying with D., a forest officer, in the Panch Mahals, near to
Sodhra. Whilst we were sitting out one evening on the side of a hill where we
had been for a walk, a panther came along and stood within 10 yards of us.
D. had a rifle with him, but on my whispering to him that there was a panther close
by him, he turned round so quickly that the panther saw him and disappeared.
We decided to tie up a couple of goats, but nothing came that night except a
hyena, which D. shot. The next evenmg, however, D. wounded a panther, but
it was too late to follow it up. During the night we heard one calling for its
mate all over the hill, and next morning, whilst searching for tracks, our atten-
tion was called by one of the men to something in the fork of a large tree close
by, and on nearer mspection this turned out to be the body of the wounded panther,
whose hind-quarters were half eaten, and the skin, of course, worried. The
‘ callant husband ’ who had performed this act of cannibalism had left the marks
of his claws on the tree, where some five feet above the ground he had sprung
up on to the trunk,
Most sportsmen will remember having in the course of their shooting expedi-
tions come across trees, which, from the marks of blood, &e., on some large fork
were evidently regular resorts to which the resident panther of the neighbourhood
was in the habit of taking its prey for consumption, and this tree was a case
in point.
H. D. OLIVIER, Major.
Ahmedabad Districts, April, 1892.
53
408 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE MERHTING IN JULY, 1892.
The usual monthly meeting of the members took place at the Society’s Rooms on
Monday, July the 4th, Dr. G. A. Maconachie presiding.
The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Society :—
Captain T. G. R. Finny (R.1.M.S. “Mayo”), Mr. Nanabhoy Muncherjee N. Banajee .
(Bombay), Mr. James Lidgett (Victoria, Australia), Captain G. H. H. Couchman
(Rangoon), Veterinary-Lieutenant G. H. Hvens, A.V.D. (Rangoon), Mr. H. U. Baker
(Tasmania), Mr. A. W. Forbes (Secunderabad), Mr. B. Khlers (Bombay), Mr. T. A.
Hanxwell (Moulmein), Mr. J. D. Forbes (Jubbalpore), Colonel Fagan (Jubbulpore),
and Mr. J. S. Ommanney (Lower Burma).
The Honorary Secretary then acknowledged ‘the eee contributions to the
Society’s collection :—
CONTRIBUTIONS DUBING MAY AND JUNE.
Contribution. Description. Contributor.
20 Scorpions (alive).........|Scorpio swammerdami w+. (Bev. Fr. Dreckmann, 8.J.
1 Skin of Wild Cat.........|Felis chaus...............s0s00e|Mr. M. D. Mackenzie.
A, Lizards sscsecceeveesoerees. (Valea anamallayana ,.. cesses Mr. H. 8. Ferguson.
1 Snake ......... ...[Simotes arnensis ...............|Mr. W. Gay.
i Chaplain Crow (live)... .\Corvus Sl are Gera .|Mr. W. Cummins.
1 Lesser White Pelican....|Pelecanus javanicus........... Do.
2 Sea Horses.. .os...| Hippocampus comes........ fib ‘|Miss H. Dickinson.
1 Sea Horse (alive)... poagonbed Hippocampus trimaculatus... Do.
1 Cobra (alive) .. cescoos| Nala tripudians ......s......0(Mr. N. J. Stabb.
TP Smale ccesaaseseersseressiceises Callaphis sp. ......s0. ..|Col. W. 8S. Hore.
2 Chameleons (alive) ......|Chameleon calcaratug .........(Mr. J. pees
dgSnaken (alive) scccecsnsees \Cligodon fasciatus .........0.
1 Monkey’s skull... a Macacus SIMICUS .eeseeres eve Do.
1 Snake . |... [Nendrophis TOMCHEIS — oqoocgne9000 ‘| Mr. H. Ommanney, C.S.
. 32 Hegs G the King C Cobra Naia bungarus ..... 9.060000000000 Mr. G. a Wasey.
1 Snake skin.. Do.
1 Nest of Sunbird Source _.|Arachnechthra ZEY1ONICA..0 0. \Capt. Tighe.
A quantity of Bere oe
(alive) .. serseoseeseess.(SCOrpio Swammerdami .,.....|Mr, J. MacPherson.
1 Indian Bittern . see-eveeeee|DOtaurus Stellarus........ se. +e.| Major-General Anderson.
1 Snake . seeeseeees(LyCOdOn AULICUS ....ee+e0+000e. (captain Shopland.
1 Lynx Gite) 5. veeeee [Helis LYMk .......000e0+eeee+ee+e.|0lonel Gunthorpe.
2) (COLES so7000 noacoacos ong nonoDs Naia tripudians..........se.00...|Dr. Kirtiker.
1 Ground Snake (alive) .../Ichthyophis glutinosus ......|\Captain Thorburn.
¥ Bird-eating Spider.........J|Mygale sp. ....e.seseceesreeeee| Mr, F. A. Naylor.
A pair of Wild Boar Tushes|9# inches in length ............|Professor H. Littledale.
2 Skins of Wild Dogs...... Cyon dukhunenSis .....0.., | Do.
okinvor Valo aibpeeeemen We lisichasseentesecessheeeeseetees Do.
1 Snake (alive).............../Silybura macrolepis......+« .».|Mr. C. EH. Kane.
a a
PROCHEDINGS, - 409
MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Were also acknowledged from Mr, H. 8. Luard, Miss Baird, Mr. N. J. Burrows,
Mr. H. Bicknell, Mr. W. Webb, and Mr. B. Aitken :—
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY.
Presented by
“* Himalayan Journals,” by Sir Joseph Hooker ... vee w. Mr. W. F.{Sinclair.
“The Sportsman’s Handbook to practical Collecting and
Preserving Specimens and Trophies”, by Rowland Ward, F. Z. The Author.
Illustrations of North American pak Vol. I., by Dr. G. ee Uv. S. Dept. of
Vasey ve ae oy a } Agriculture, Wa-
shington.
he Ontario Dept.
Annual Report of the Fruit Growers’ Association, and Entomo- § : of eglericditure
logical Society of Ontario, 1891 .., ae nec 26"
Toronto.
“ The Indian Forester,”? May and June Sc Fo joe ... In Exchange.
Le Monde des Plantes, Nos. 8 and 9, by Mons. H. Leveille ... The Author.
The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1889,
1890, and 1891 nee eas cr 600 ae ... In Exchange.
The Victorian Naturalist, Vol. IX, No. yea ce me 50 ... In Exchange,
The Canadian Entomologist, Vol.XX1V__... pac cor ... In Exchange,
The Minutes of the N.-W. Provinces and Oudh, Provincial
Museum, Lucknow ... ar Sve ... In Exchange,
“Sporting Sketches in South nes? by faweea Kennedy ... The Author.
The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N. 8S. Wales ... ... In Exchange.
The Proceedings of the Chemical Society ... ves ae as Do.
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, WILD BOARS, TIGERS, FOUR-HORNED
DEER, AND COBRAS.
Mr. J.C. Anderson then read an interesting paper on the above subject by
Professor H. Littledale, B. A., of Baroda, and mentioned that one of the Wild Dogs
referred to had lately been presented by Mr. Littledale to the Victoria Gardens,
where she would be happy to show her teeth to anyone,
The paper will be published in full in the Society’s Journal.
The usual meeting of the members of this Society took place on Tharedey last,
the 29th September, Mr. Andrew Murray presiding. The following seventeen
new members were duly elected :—Miss Agnes H. Boorke (Bhownugger), Veterinary
Captain J. W. Morgan (Ahmednugger), Mr. E, T. Ansell (Bulgar), Lieutenant H. R.
Mead (Aden), Lieutenant B. M. Edwards (N. Lushali Hills), M. 8. H. Heath (Mhow),
Mrs. J. R. Maconachie (Mooltan), Dr. H. L. Batliwalla (Bombay), Mr. R. Bignell
(Cooch-Behar), Mr. R. B. McCabe, C. §. (N. Lushai Hills), Mr. R. St. J. Hickman
(Cachar), the Administrator of the Rajpipla State, Mr. James Kenyon (Bombay),
Mr. ©. W. Chitty (Bombay), Mr. A. W. H. Lee (Secunderabad), Mr. W. G. Windham
(Bombay), and Mr, J. G. Buchanan (Bombay),
410 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
The Honorary Secretary then acknowledged the following contributions to the
Society’s collection :—
CONTRIBUTIONS DURING JULY AND AUGUST.
IS a a Le
Contribution.
Description.
Contributor.
SS — IT 1 TDS TETTUT DTD
1 Snake ....
iL Tec!) ona doo once
14 Bird Skins........ceve
Civet Cat (alive) .-...
Pair of Takin Horns .
Baboon (alive) . :
Hgg of the Meacrad |
Pheasant ..... ;
Foetus of nemenne Cat.
eoceg eon cog Of 200 008
Bee
ee
Thrush .
1 Tiger’s Head ‘(stuffed) ..
Viper (alive) ....cesce verre
Snake (alive) ..
Myna (alive) . at
Skin of Purple Sunbird...
Skin of
Cuckoo .......0
Bear (alive) ......... ;
Panther Cub (me) « meat
A quantity of small Insects.
1 Cobra ......
108 Birds’ Hegs(82 species).
1 Snake .../.. a0
1 Snake Glzoe bdoe
1 Skull of Musk Deer. eodod
I Svake ......... 5006
Some Water Beetles .. Nersetrs
1 Porcupine Fish .
1 Bear Cub (eine)
1 Monkey (alive) .......0..
1 Large Snake Skin..,....
il King Cobra... nog oo
1 Albino Musk ‘Shrew .
1 Snake (alive) ..
Aquantity of Butterflies.
1 Krait (alive) . ;
1
I
1
1
1
1
i
veo roegcce
White-throated Ground 5
...|(Geocichla cyanonotus
Pied- Erosted ; ;
..|Coccystes jacobinus .........4..
..|Melursus ursinus:
..|Naia tripudians.......
..|Diodon hystrix
...|Naia bungarus
». \Crocidura ceeraled...s.....:00se
...|Dipsas trigonata...
..|Bungarus czruleus
Dendrophis pictus.........
..|Varanus bengalensis...
..|Hrom Bae wae
.eee| Viverricula ule ae ane 380
.»-(Budorcas taxicOlor .......00
. \Cynocephalus babuin
.|Felis domestica... ......+.
.|Felis biGvis ......+se sere
Vipera russellii........
../Tropidonotus stolatus ......
...|Acridotheres tristiS ....ssesse
Arachnechthra asiatica
200988 poegoce
Felis pardts ....e+.ceseeseece
From §. India
From North Cachar
.|from Burma...
2208 000008
Melursus ursinug ....
.|Macacus SINICUS.......00 see ve
..|Python molurus.........
.(From Cooch-Behar
Mr. H. Ommanney, €. S.
...{ Mr, A. L. Rhenius.
Major G. B. Radcliffe.
Mr. F. D’Aguiar.
...|Major J. H. Yule.
..|Lophophorous impeyaneus....
..|Raja Murli Manohur
.». (Col.
+-o/ Mr.
...| Mr.
..|Mr.
Tropidonotus stolatus ...,.....
..|Gongylophis conicus .....
.|Moschus moschiferus
“ piece ae CODICUS........
veo
..|Mr. Naorojee H. Katrak.
..(Lieut. J. R. Carter.
200 6O@ Dee
..| Mr.
..| Mr.
seal Vie:
2 oT MO Ce DOGr0G 208
Mr. W. Maidment.
Mr, C, Douglas Pennant.
Lieut. Carter.
Mr. H. Bulkley.
Bahadoor.
Mr. H. J. Farquharson.
Mr. G. V. Evans,
Mr. F. EH. Otto.
Mr. BR. A. Heath.
Mr.. RB. A. Heath.
W. Scott.
EK. L. Barton.
P. Henry K. Lee.
C. H. Kane.
H. C. S. Baker.
H. Ommanney, C. S..
T. Moore.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr..
Mr. C. F. Gilbert.
Dr. Munday.
H. F. Silcock, C. 8.
W. T. Lidbetter.
C. G. Rogers.
H. Wapshare.
H. D. Mehta.
Mr.
Mr.
..(Mr. B. W. Blood.
Dr. H. EH. Brown.
..|Purchased.
MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
Mr. D. Knight, Mr. H. E. M. James, C.S., Captain Thorburn, Mr. W. Andrews
Godfrey, Lieutenant J. R. Carter, Mr. Dwarkanath Trimbuck, Mr. F. Gleadow, Mrs.
Birdwood, Mr. E. H. Elsworthy, Mr. R. F. Goode, Mr. D. Morris, Mr. W. G. Windham,
and Mr. H. O. Campbell.
CONTBIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY.
‘The Victorian Naturalist,” Vol. [X., Nos. 2, 3, and 4, in exchange.
**The Proceedings of the Linnzan Society of New South Wales,” in. exchange.
PROCEEDINGS, 411
“ Reports of the Geological Explorations during 1890-91, New Zealand,” by the
Colonial Museum of Geological Survey of New Zealand.
“The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1892,” Part I., by G.
A. J. Rothney, Esq., F.E.S,
“ Records of the Geological Survey of India,’ Vol. XXV., Part IL., in exchange,
“Contents and Index of the first twenty volumes of Memoirs of the Geological
Survey of India,” in exchange.
“Index to Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Paleontologia Indica,”
in exchange.
‘Mémoires de la Société Zoologique de France, 1892,’’ in exchange.
“The Indian Forester ’—July, August, and September, in exchange.
“The Canadian Entomologist,” Vol. XXIV., in exchange.
“ Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History,” Vol. 1I., No. 2, in exchange.
“ Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences,” Part. III., September-
December, in exchange. :
* Bulletin of the United States National Museum,” No. 41, in exchange, °
“ Smithsonian Report, 1889,—U. 8. National Museum,” in exchange.
“Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,” Vol. LXI., Part II., No. 1, in
exchange.
“ List of the Batrachia in the Indian Museum;” by W. L. Sclater, F. Z. S.; by
the Author. :
“‘ Annual Report of the Society of Mines, Victoria,” in exchange.
“ A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidew,” Parts V. and.VI.; by W. L. Distant, from
the Trustees of the Indian Museum.
“ Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, for 1891,” Parts, 1—4 1892,
Part 1; from W. F. Sinclair, C. 8S.
“Index to Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1881-1890” ; from
W. F. Sinclair, C. 8.
‘“« Transactions of the Zoological Society of London,” Vol. XIII., Parts 1—4; from
W.F. Sinclair, 0. S.
‘‘ Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute,” Vol. XXIV., in
exchange.
** Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,” Vol. LXI., Part II., No. II, in
exchange.
‘* Records of the Geological Survey of India,’? Vol. XXV., Part III.,in exchange.
** Administration Report of Government Central Museum, Madras, for the year
1891-92,” in exchange.
A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION.
The Honorary Secretary said, amongst the contributions recently received, it
would be noticed was a pair of Takin horns (Budorcas tawicolor), presented to the
Society by Major J. H. Yule.
These horns were quite new to the collection, and belonged to an animal about
which very little is known. The Takin is a curious-looking beast, standing about
(Cm d4
412 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
33 feet at the shoulders, and is closely allied to both the goats and the antelopes.
It is found on the Mishmi Hills and Eastern Tibet, and this probably accounts for
the fact that it has so far escaped the attention of the Anglo-Indian sportsman. _
Major Yule writes that the horns were found in a village in the Katchin country,
two hundred miles north of Bhamo, and he wag informed that the animal was not
found in their country, but that the horns had been brought from a long way north,
and were worth about Rs, 20 a pair—a larze sum for a Katchin to give.
NOTES. .
The following interesting notes were read:—‘A Rare Snake (Psammophis
longifrons), by the Rev. F. Dreckmann, S.J.; Notes on the Nest and Eggs of Baza-
lophotes, by Mr. T. A. Hanxwell, and it was resolved that ghey should be published in
the Journal. .
RESOLUTION.
Mr. J. C. Anderson proposed that the following resolution be passed and recorded —
in the Society’s Journal :—‘‘ The members of the Bombay Natural History Society
desire to record their sense of the great loss which they have sustained in eon-
sequence of the recent death of the late Mr. G. Carstensen, Superintendent, Victoria
Gardens, Bombay,” Mr. Anderson said Mr. Carstensen, as a member of the
Executive Committee, had given fhe Society much valuable help and advice, and
had also contributed a number of interesting papers to the Society’s Journal, amongst -
which he might mention: —‘“ The Conditions for the Distribution of Plants and the
means by which it is performed, with special regard to Indian Species”; “How to
facilitate the Study. of Botany;” “ Bombay Gardeas;” ‘‘ Landscape Gardening in
Native States ;” ‘‘ Bombay Ferneries’’; besides showing his interest in the Society
in many other ways. Mr. Carstensen was one of our few scientific botanists, and a
man of very cousiderable attainments, although his modest and retiring disposition
always concealed that fact.. The wonderful improvements which had taken place
in the Victoria Gardens during his régime are, and will be, a standing besHinney to
his great ability.
Mr. Andrew Murray seconded the resolution, and after a few ronan it was pot
to the meeting and carried unanimously.
NOTES ON A VISIT TO THE ISLANDS OF RODRIQUEZ, MAURITIUS,
AND REUNION.
Mr. Anderson then read a paper on the above suject, by Rear-Admiral W. R.
Kennedy, in which, after giving a graphic description of the formation, produce, and
sport in these islands, Admiral Kennedy mentions that bones of the ‘Dodo’’ are
still to be found in some caverns on Rodriguez, and that he is bringing some of them
for the Society’s Museum. The paper will be published in full in the Scciety’s
Journal, :
A yote of thanks was passed to Rear-Admiral Kennedy for his interesting paper
and the meeting then terminated.
“LIST OF OFFICE-BEARERS.
7 : President.
_ H.E, the Right Hunorable Lorp Harris.
Vice- Presidents,
Dr. D. ‘MacDonald. M.D., B.S.C., C.M. .
The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Bieiwaed. M.A., LL.M, (Cantab.).
Dr. G. A. Maconachie, M.D., C.M. |
“eda Hon. Seeretery.
Bye es Mr. H. M. Phipson, 0.M.Z.8.
5! Eig ane i Gon. CTrewsurer. ae
Pek. Mr. Andrew Murray. i
oo Eitor. : -
4 . ees Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.m.z.s. Bs
e see we ad Managing Committee. — ; ze
- “ee The Eon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood. | Mr. W. F. Sinclair, cs. ¥
~ .- Dr. G. A. Maconachie. Mrs. W.. E. Hart. Beatie ES
Dr. D. MacDonald. Col. W. S, Bisset, RE. eae.
Mr. G. W. Vidal, os. Lieut. H. W. Barnes. : aa
Rev. F. Dreckmann, s.s. ‘Mr. J. CO. Anderson. yee
_ Dr. T. S. Weir. Mr. E. L. Barton. Chae
fon) Dre Kirtikar. Mr. Reginald Gilbert. :
/ Mr. J. D: Inverarity. Mr, R. M. Branson.
Mr. W. 8S. Millard. 2 Mr. N. 8. Symons.
Mr. Andrew Murray, ex-officio.
_ Mr. H. M. Phipson, ew-officto.
Ist Section.—(Mammals and Birds.) hee
President —Mr. J. D. Inverarity.
Secretary—Lieut. H. HE. Barnes.
. 2nd Section.—(Reptiles and Fishes.)
President—Mr, G. W. Vidal, o.s. ~
Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.M.z.s.
Beit. 3rd Section.—( Insects.) ” ie uss
_. President—Mr. L. de Nicéville, P.r.s., c.w.z.8, ae
3 _Secretary—Mr. E. H, Aitken. a
: cae. 4th Section.—(Other Invertebrata.) E
Bk mi President—Dr. G. A. Maconachie, M.D., cm. - oe ae
- Secretary— Mr. J. C. Anderson. Be
dth Section.—( Lotany.)
ps President—The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, u.a., Lum. Caney
a, geen reron:Major K, R. Kirtikar, r.s.m. t. (France), M.R.&.S
: EDITED BY
- #f§. M. PHIPSON,
| Honorary Secretary.
7 Z No. 2 VOL.- Vil.
4 : Date of Publication, 23rd April 1893+ pene:
© “Prive to Non- Members... aus sh wee Ls. 4-0 3 se
Bs ie “-\ PRINTED AT THE ~~ ts : i
: ss "-EDEOATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA. | ae
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. es
—___—_@—__—_
Tur Butsuts or NortH Cacuar. By E. C. Sruarr Baker. Part
TV. (Wah. Plate) <....---.- airarebeccanwedae suene Bet Sula anass ogee . 415
Tur BuTTERFLIES OF THE eens Provincres. By J. A.
Reream Part Wie Co Shae ee eee eee ete
Les Formicwwes DE L’EmpirRE DES as ET DE CeEYLAN, Par
Auguste Foren. Part IT....... Bhp es eater ese A serena caeeuu eae 430
Notes oN A VISIT TO THE IsnaNDS OF RopRiguEZ, MauRITIUs,
ANp Reunion. By Rear-ApmiraL W. KR. KENNEDY. (1 Plate). 440
Notes oN THE Frora and Fauna oF THE Kacain Hints. By
Captain G. H. H. CoucHMAN conc es ces8 Be coes- 8B® coe S-SF SSH OH FFF,0% 447
Ur a Hitu. By W, F. Sinorarr, L. C. 8....cc.ce.-seee ceeeeeeerene ces 452
Borany oF THE LACCADIVES, BEING NaTuRAL HIsTory NotTEs
From H. M. I. M. Survey Streamer ‘‘Investicator,” Com-
MANDER B. F. Hosxyy, R.N., Commanpinc. Series II. No. 5.
By D. PRAIN .....- ee. s0-2 Paes asecs: ide oe ncutbosauee seco eco scne Sronoecs 20!)
Tur Porsonous Pants oF Bompay. By Scneane Mane 1a R.
Kretixar, I. M.S. Part IV. (With Plates E. and F’.)....0000.... 497
Nores on Witp Does, &c. By Prof. H. Lirtrepsry, Ba. ......... 494
Inpran Frowers. By Surceon-Masor K. R. Kirtixar, I.M. S32 73l2
PRESERVATION OF BrrpS AND HarmMi“ess WILD ANIMALS IN
TEAGIAH GESELWAR coos oe cu cdue sake pecetouatouechecwacesisnvarsectmes eas -cmiee
CORRESPONDENCE :== “
The Mammalia of India .......cc-0-y-eeerersescereocce
REVIEWS :—
Sport in Southern India ......-.-coccesseessereesoesergeererecesesoecee
Fur-bearing Animals ........-...:0-sevacceseserseeceeene ce: cee concer cee on. 540
Rowland Ward's New Book .ccccccccecesssseressceseetsnscyseosaseedecseermeene
MiscELLANEOUS NOTES :—
1. Food of the Flying Fox ..........0--cscssesccaceveesssersnrcecganans OO
9. Birds observed breeding in Kharaghora,.......sersecserssscorsee O44
3, Note on Psilotum triquetrum vgereccergerogsonsserteerecersvcegerees O44
4, Note on Indian Breeds of dogs ..........0:0s00 cecscsseeseseeseres O40
K eaNGavelle’s food! ici cases: voce caacmce usta nese enreners ce eee neni
6. A Lynx attacking a man .....-.0.. Ss ca Os
7, On the occurrence of the Spotted oy sth Press. at
Ahmednagar, Deccan ....00.. seo -crcoseeesereeeresaee S Voice 548
8, Moonlight Shadows ... ...0. win ities selseeacisnelgcemeaccie «lecean ete
9, Measurements of Black ee Homs a cee deaenaees sataeasuees Sooners 550
10. A bold Panther....... anmecnnaiboes ci ae cba deat ae Sere Teen eae CE
11. Measurement of Sambur Horns ....,...--.ssecesse0e creeserrsereoe OOL
V2. Ducks > ccccescescocassivesissntlecwmsmmacsens+ce-socgesensce-s pak Seeman Bays:
13. The Giant Betel-nut Tree . ......ccscosseceesssesescoseereescoreesees OOD
4 Wolf huntinoy .c c.ceecs cocnes Ui eoeasn woe se ceeen sieesenscteeceeacesee meee
15. New Sumatran Butterflies ......sgssereee-ess+ Spear bys hance 0 FI)
PROCEEDINGS 000000 es HOCH TOAD COLE CHEECHHHHLHGHL LOSE OER EHDOF 12H? NOCOHS DAHSG2ERUF00 508
Journ Bomb. Nat.Hist Soc =
»
Os
E_.C.S Baker del.
Mintern Bros. Chromo lith.London.
|.SPIZIXUS CANIFRONS, The Finch-billed Bulbul.
@é.ALCURUS STRIATUS, The Striated Green Bulbul:
3:MOLPASTES BENGALENSIS, The Bengal Red-vented Bulbul.
4 MOLPASTES Bu RMANICUS, The Burmese Red-vented Bulbul,
JOURNAL
OF THE
es CIV Es AR
Aatunal History Soviety.
No. 4.] BOMBAY, 1892. [Vol. Vil.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR.
By E. C. Sruart-BakeEr.
Part IV.
( With I Plate. )
( Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on
21st December, 1892.)
MoLPASTES BURMANICUS.
Tue Burmese REp-vENTED BuLBUL.
Oates’ ‘ Fauna of B.I,,” Vol. I., p. 269; d., Hume’s “ Nests and
Eggs,” Vol. I., p. 173.
Description.—Forehead to back of crown, chin and throat
extending to the top of the breast, lores, cheeks and round the eye
black; ear-coverts hair-brown. Nape, neck, back, wing-coverts and
breast brown; each feather margined with pale grey; rump light
brown ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail dark brown, deepening to black
towards the tip, the central feathers tipped obsoletely, the others
distinctly, with white ; quill feathers of wing brown, margined grey ;
flanks and sides of abdomen greyish-brown; centre of abdomen
almost white ; under tail-coverts crimson-scarlet ; thighs dark brown.
Bill and legs black, irides brown, reddish-brown, or light brown.
55
414 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Length 7:9” to 8-3” ; wing 3°6" to -4"; tail 3°6” to 3'9" ; tarsus °8" ;
bill at front 6” and from gape ‘92".
The above description is taken from a bird in fresh plumage ; when
this becomes worn and abraded the brown seems to fade in colour
and the grey margins to the feathers almost disappear, whilst the
abdomen becomes more grey from the bases of the feathers showing
through more.
Nipirication.—It is quite unnecessary to describe the nest of this
species, as it in no way differs from that of its near relations,
M. bengalensis and M. hemorrhous, &c. Like the other members of
the genus, it seems to have a great partiality for breeding in com-
pounds, orchards, &c. about houses and villages. At the time of
writing this article there are three nests within my own compound,
each containing three eggs. One of these is situated in a pomegranate
tree in which the foliage is so thin that the nest can be seen from
a great distance ; another nest is builtin an orange tree about ten yards
away from the last, and the third is placed in a clump of Boganvilla
in company with a Spotted Dove’s nest. As with all very common
birds whose nests are found in great numbers, some of these birds’
nests have been taken in very queer places. I once found a nest
being built inside a Government rest-house, but I was obliged to
occupy the house, and the birds refused to go on with their work
whilst I was there, though it is probable that they did so after I left,
for during the week I occupied the house, the owners of the nest
used to daily come to sit on the roof and expostulate with me for
interfering with them. Another nest was once shown to me built
on the top of a dead stump, in full view of every passer-by, though
it was shielded from rain and sun by a heavy branch of a tree some
4 or 5 feet above it. Perhaps the most peculiar place, though, in
which to find a Bulbul’s nest, would be a patch of sungrass, yet
{ have twice taken nests from such places, once built in a thick tuft
at about 2 feet from the ground, and the other time placed amongst
the roots almost on the ground itself. These birds- undoubtedly
sometimes return to their nest of the previous year or else make use
of an old nest of some other bird. This year, 1892, a pair- of birds.
have taken possession of an old nest which was built in 1891 in an-
orange trée in my orchard, but was not noticed until January this
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 415
year. They seem to have done nothing to the nest beyond putting
a little fresh grass in as a lining, and the nest is now a most shock-
ingly dilapidated looking habitation for a respectable bird. The eggs
vary quite as much as do those of the other species of Molpastes, and
the following are only a few of the many types that may be found :—
(1) The ground-colour varies from white to pale pink or cream
with numerous speckles and small blotches of reddish, purplish-brown
and very pale lavender and grey, fairly numerous everywhere and
often tending to form a ring or cap at the larger end. (2) Pink
with large blotches of deep blood-red and purple-brown with under-
lying ones of grey and pale neutral tint, all confined to the larger
half where they nearly always form a ring. (38) Pale livid ground-
colour, with minute stipplings of purple-grey almost absent over the
smaller end and becoming confluent at the other, where they form
a dull-coloured cap. I have only seen one clutch of this remarkable
type, and no one would ever think this, or indeed the one next
mentioned, could possibly be a Bulbul’s egg. (4) White with tiny
specks of very light red and very pale grey, few at the small end
and becoming more numerous towards the large, but forming neither
ring nor cap. ‘This type is almost as rare as the last ; in appearance
it is just like a small Broadbill’s (S. /wnatus) egg. (5) White or
very pale cream, boldly blotched with dark brown and reddish.
(6) Pale cream mottled all over with dark cream and lavender, (7) Pale
pinkish with the ground-colour almost obliterated with innumer-
able speckles of dark reddish. (8) The same only marked with
bright pinkish-red. . These will be enough to show how widely one
egg may differ from another : to give all the known forms of this
egg would fill pages and serve no purpose.
I once took an abnormal clutch of this bird’s eggs. They were
four in number, and were in shape almost perfect little spheres,
measuring no more than ‘50” X -48”. In coloration they were
equally abnormal, for the ground-colour, which was a deep pink,
was almost obliterated by deep purple blotches.
Two hundred eggs, which I have measured, varied in length
between -76" and 1:01", whilst the difference in the greatest and
least breadth was even greater, the respective limits being 79” and
‘54", The average of the whole two hundred was ‘93” x -68”.
416 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
‘This bird and the Bengal form are equally common in North
Cachar and often keep one another company when they assemble
in their immense flocks during the cold weather. Both species are
semi-migratory in their habits and move from one part of the district
to another, but the reason why they do so is not easy to give, for
beyond the fact that they, like most other birds, are to be found
higher in the hot weather than in the cold season, they seem
to move about independently of food-supply or time of the year.
Thus in the year 1892, about Gunjong itself, that is to say, about
the centre of the district, both types were equally common. In 1891,
during April, May and June, I did not come across a single Bengal
bird, whereas in the previous year it was just the other way, and no
Burmese birds were to be met with. Generally speaking, as regards
distribution, the Burmese bird is the common form to the east,
and, to the extreme south-east, may be said to be the only type
obtainable, M. bengalensis only appearing there as a rare straggler.
In the plains it is uncommon ; some years a fair number may be
seen, in other years none. To the north, towards the Assam Valley,
I believe it never wanders, and to the west only very rarely. In the
centre, as I have already said, it seems to wander backwards and
forwards.
Strange to say, in spite of these birds being so much intermixed,
1 have never yet come across a distinct hybrid, nor have I ever
found the two species pairing together, though I have on several
occasions shot both male and female from a nest on purpose to find
out whether such inter-breeding ever does occur.
They are I think the boldest birds I know. I have already
mentioned a nest built in a pomegranate tree in my garden. This
nest is visited by me every morning and evening, and my hand is
inserted to find out if the eggs are hatched or not: whilst I am
doing this the birds, if they are present—often they are both absent—sit
close by and watch, and as soon as! go fly to the nest to see their eggs,
and then go off without further fuss. Now, after having seen me so
regularly, they show no excitement when I visit the nest, and appear to
consider it a matter of course that I should do so. The third nest I
mentioned. was first found by a Naga mali, who took it out of the tree
and brought it to me, but by my orders it was at oncereplaced, upon
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 417
which the birds, which had seen it taken, at once went back to it, and
have since shown no desire to desert their eggs, which I expect to hatch
out ina day or two. From what I have been able’to observe, Bulbuls
seldom lay an egg each day until they have completed their clutch ;
one day I think generally intervenes between each laying, and some-
times two days elapse between the depositing of the first and second
egg, but not, I believe, between the succeeding eggs.
Like other Bulbuls of this genus, the Burmese Bulbul is a very
quarrelsome bird, and the males often have most determined fights,
though they seldom seem to injure one another as the birds of the
genus Chioropsis so frequently do.
I have often observed this bird pursuing white ants on the wing,
not merely taking short flights into the air, but hawking about very
much in the same manner as the Drongo-shrikes. On one occasion
I was witness of a most curious scene.
Just outside the rest-house I was stopping in at the time, an
immense flight of white ants were rising into the air. On the
ground, busily feeding, were frogs, lizards, doves, and squirrels ; above
them several Racket-tailed Drongos of both species were flying
backwards and forwards to and from the trees on either side of the
road, taking the ants as they flew; above them again these Bulbuls,
together with other species, were hawking high into the air, in
company with a pair of Red-billed Rollers, a few crows, and a
solitary kite, whilst of course the common Drongos were present
in swarms.
MoLPASTES BENGALENSIS.
Tuer BencaL Rep-ventep BuLBut.
Oates’ “ Fauna of B. I.,” Vol. 1., p. 271; id., Hume’s “ Nests and
Eggs,” Vol. I., p. 174; Hume’s Catalogue No. 461; Murray’s
“ Avifauna,’’ Vol. II., p. 37; Jerdon’s “B. of I.,” Vol. IL., p. 93.
Description.—Differs from VM. burmanicus in having the black of
the head continued over the nape and sides of the neck as far as the
upper back, and in having the lower breast much deeper, in colour a
blackish-brown. The ear-coverts are of a decidedly darker brown.
Length about 9”; wing 4” to 4:3" ; tail 3:9” to 4:3”; tarsus °85”,
bill at front °61"; from gape °92”,
418 yOURNAL., BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
These birds vary much in plumage, according to whether it is
new or not. Birds just before moulting are much browner and the
breast and back right up to the nape seem far more brown than
black. Ifa bird in a moulting state is obtained it will be found
that the new feathers, which are already fully developed, are much
darker, besides having better defined grey edges, than the old
feathers.
There is practically nothing to add to what I have already noted
under the heading of the last species. I may, however, mention that
T saw a nest this April (1892) in the garden of a friend in Silchar,
which was evidently an old one just sufficiently repaired to make it
serviceable. It was built in some trellis work, covered with
ereepers, and not more than two yards from the front door of the
bungalow. Naturally, thenest was very frequently visited, shown to
visitors, &c., and more than once I myself took the eggs from the
nest to show people. The birds, however, did not at all object, and
the young were hatched and reared in safety. 3
Neither this nor the last Bulbul are common above 4,000 feet,
and this bird may be said hardly ever to ascend above that elevation,
though M. burmanicus is found in small numbers up to nearly
6,000 feet.
IoLE VIRESCENS.
Tue Onive BuLBut.
Oates’ “ Fauna of B.I.,”’ Vol. L., p. 284; id., “ B. of B. B.,” Vol. L.,
p. 177; Hume’s Catalogue No. 452, dec; Murray’s “ Avifauna,”
Vol. I1., p. 28.
Drscription.—Lores and short eyebrow olive-yellow; ear-coverts
dark olive ; remainder of head and upper plumage to the rump olive
ereen ; upper tail-coverts and the tail rather bright rufous-brown ;
sides of the neck olive-brown; whole under surface from chin to vent
yellow, more or less suffused with olive-brown ; under tail-coverts
pale tan-colour ; wings dark brown; the coverts and inner secondaries
broadly, and the remaining feathers narrowly, edged with rufescent
olive-brown.
Length 7:4”; tail 3:3"; wing 3:3”; tarsus 7"; bill at front -6";
from gape °88”,
YHE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 419
Nupirication.—In 1891 I took four nests of this bird, and this
year (1892) I have had one brought to me. All these nests are of the
same type exactly, and a description of any one would answer equally
well for any other of the five. In shape they are very nearly
hemispherical, and they are far stouter, compacter, and, proportion-
ately, bulkier nests than those of Molpastes or Otocompsa.
lixternally they average about 4'5" in diameter, by about 2°2” in
depth, and internally they are about 2°56” by 1:1”. The external
materials consist principally of long, tough strips. of the inner bark
of some tree and a few scraps also of the outer bark, with these are
to be found a few fine elastic twigs, and in four of the five nests a
number of small dead leaves are also attached to the outside by
means of coarse cobwebs and by a few of the longer materials
being passed over and round them. The lining is of black fern
roots and a quantity of long reddish fibres which look like the
straight red tendrils of a common kind of convolvulus.
Three of the nests were placed between horizontal twigs, and
another in a vertical fork formed by a whole cluster of twigs meet-
ing, the fifth looks as if it had been built in a rather stout horizontal
fork. They are semi-pendent in position, the supporting twigs being
at about the centre of the nest; covered partly by the materials and
also further strengthened with cobwebs. All my nests were found
well in the interior of biggish forests, but there was no attempt
made by the birds to conceal them. My first nest was taken near
Diyungmukh, quite at the north of the district and practically in
the plains. I was going along an elephant path through a forest
with thin scrub undergrowth, when my attention was attracted by
seeing a bird fly from a nest, which was on a branch crossing the
track just in front of me. As the bird flew off I noticed its olive
back and rufous tail, and when I saw the eggs I thought that they
must belong to this species, so, as I could not get the bird, I took the
nest and went on my way. The next day, in just the same sort of
place, I came across another nest, also with three eggs in it ; and this
time having brought some black thread with me for the purpose,
I set some nooses and retired behind a tree to await events. I had
not been seated five minutes before the male returned and was-at
once caught, and before I could get up to take him the female was
420 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
also trapped. ‘Two other nests were taken close by this place during
the same mouth (May), and two other nests were brought to me,
which could not, however, be identified with certainty.
Three clutches are all much alike, the ground-colour is a creamy-
white, and the markings consist of small irregular blotches of rather
light reddish and other underlying ones of pale lavender and pale
brown. The primary markings are fairly numerous everywhere, and
very numerous at the larger end where they forma broad ring,
the spots here running into one another; the secondary spots are
few in number and are scattered here and there over the whole
surface.
A fourth clutch is the same in ground-colour, perhaps a rather
deeper pink, and is thickly marked everywhere with purple, ranging
from a dark reddish-purple to a colour so deep as to appear almost
black ; the underlying marks are of rather dark inky grey. The
character of the marks range from specks and freckles to big
blotches over ‘2” long by ‘1” broad. The general tint of all four of
these clutches is rather bright.
The fifth clutch is the most boldly and brightly marked of all,
resembling closely the last mentioned, but not having the smaller
specks and freckles. All these eggs can be matched with eggs of
Molpastes, but they are much brighter, handsomer eggs than 99 in
100 of that genus, and have a certain character of their own, though
it is hard to express what it is in words.
They are I think stouter than most Bulbul’s eggs (not Criniger)
and they have a slight gloss. In shape they are rather broad ovals,
somewhat compressed towards the smaller end, but not pointed, The
fourteen eggs average *87’ X ‘58 and vary in length between °84”
and ‘91 and in breadth between *56” and 60."
This bird is very rare here, with the exception of in the low-lying
forests to the extreme north, where it appears to be fairly common,
It keeps entirely to the interior of the forest, preferring such as is
rather thin as regards the tree-growth, but which has plenty of scrub
undergrowth. I have noticed that its fight is quicker and far more
level than most Bulbuls, but thisis almost the only thing about it that
T have observed: I have not heard its note even beyond the jarring
cries made by such as had been caught in nooses ; indeed, it appears
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 491
to be a most silent bird. I have never met with it over about 1,600
feet elevation, and only once as high as that.
ALUCURUS STRIATUS.
Tuer Srriatep GREEN BuLBUL.
Oates’ “ Fauna of B.I.,” Vol. L., p. 266; id., “ B. of B. B.,” Vol.
1., p. 187; td., Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs, ” Vol. I., p. 169 ; Jerdon’s
“B. 1,” Vol. IL, p- 81; Hume’s Catalogue No. 449; Murray’s
“* Avifauna,”’ Vol. IL., p. 32.
Descrirtion.—Whole upper plumage and visible portion of the
wings and tail olive-green, brownest on the crest, in some birds being
here almost a dark hair-brown. The feathers of the crown have white
striez, which are broadest, and often yellowish, on the forehead, and
narrowest on the longest crest feathers, where they become little
more than a shaft stripe. Nape, upper back and scapulars broadly
striated white, the striations becoming narrower towards the rump,
and ceasing altogether on the upper tail-coverts ; lores and chin yel-
low or orange-yellow ; throat duller and lighter yellow; the feathers
tipped dusky brown. WTar-coverts dark brown narrowly striated .
yellowish-white. Breast, sides of neck and flanks dark grey-
brown, very broadly striated with yellowish towards the centre of
the abdomen, the brown margins to the feathers become fainter and
narrower and are absent in the centre, which is plain yellow ; under
tail-coverts yellow. Under surface of the tail yellowish-green, In
many birds in abraded plumage the breast looks as if it was a merely
yellowish-white with brownish black edges to the feathers from
the dark part of the feathers becoming worn away and the lighter
portion showing up in consequence more distinctly. ,
Bill dark horny, almost black ; iridis Indian-red or reddish-brown ;
legs dark clear plumbeous.
Length 8:7”; wing 4°2”; tail 3:95’; tarsus °65”; bill at front °75”;
from gape 1°05”.
The birds of this part seem to range in size between those of the
Kast and West, but personally I have only seen one specimen of
this bird taken elsewhere than in North Cachar. This, which
was kindly sent me from the Indian Museum by Mr. Wood-Mason,
is a bird (unsexed) from Darjeeling, and has a wing measurement
56
422 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, 1892.
of 4°35", It is also a hrowner bied than most of those § have seen
here.
IT have been able to discover no difference whatsoever between the
SEXES.
Nipirication.— Personally, I have taken two nests only of this
species and have seen but two others, all of which were much alike
in shape, materials, &e. Outwardly, all four nests were composed.
of fine elastic twigs and coarse fern roots, these materials being
very strongly and closely interlaced with one another. Inside this
are more twigs and roots, a few dead stems of weeds, and, im one case,
a few scraps of a long fern moss; none of theseare at all intertwisted,
being merely wound round and round im the same manner as is
the lining, which is composed entirely of very fine shreds of grass.
The nests are fairly compact and rather stout, and measure externally
from 3°8” to 4:2’ in diameter by about 1-5” te 1:75” in depth, mter-
nally they measure about 3” by 1” or a little more.
In none of these nests was the light colouring of the materials,
remarked on by Hume in the nest found by Mandelli, at all conspi-
cuous. The first nest I took was found in a thick bush growing by
the side of a path zig-zagging up a steep hill. The parent birds
flew out of the bush on my approach and kept hovering about, call-
ing very loudly, much in the way the common Bengal Bulbul does,
but, in spite of my having noticed whence they flew, I was unable to
find out the nest, and at last came to the conclusion that they had not
begun to build. I therefore left the place and went on my way, but
as I got to the turn of the path, just above the bush, one of the birds
flew into it again, so] returned to have another search, and this time,
noticing very carefully whence it flew, I succeeded in finding the
prize. It was placed quite close to the ground, and, besides being
hidden by numerous thick twigs and branches, was half buried in dead
leaves and also concealed by a thick creeper which grew upon the bush.
This nest was built in fairly thick forest with dense undergrowth, and
the two nests which were brought to me were said to have been found
in much the same kind of place. The fourth nest was taken from a
clump of small bamboos growing in mixed scrub and bamboo jungle.
All the four nests were found in June 1888 and 1889, and were
taken at a place between 5,000 and 6,000 ft. high.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 423
One nest contained two young birds, the other three, each three
eggs. One of these clutches was given away, I regret to say,
before I tookany measurements or noted their coloration.
The other two clutches were in ground-colour a very pale pinkish-
white decidedly suffused with brown towards the larger end. The
primary markings consist of rather bold spots and small blotches,
ranging in colour from a dark reddish-brown to a very deep purple,
and are scattered rather sparsely over the whole surface forming
an indistinct ring towards the larger end. The secondary marks
consist of spots, specks and irregular blotches of pale grey and neu-
tral tint, and in addition to these are a good many indistinct smears
and blotches of pale vandyke-brown. About the larger end, in four
eggs, there are one or two very long but extremely fine hair-like
lines, in colour a purple black or clotted blood-colour,
The three eggs I gave away were, if I remember rightly, less
brown in their general appearance, and they were also different in
shape, being somewhat lengthened ovals, whereas my other eggs are
all rather broad ovals, but little compressed towards the smaller end.
The texture is fine and close, but exhibits no gloss. It is very
fragile. The largest of the six eggs measured is ‘86"X-65"; the
smallest °82"X-60,”" and they average ‘84 X°63.”
This bird is here found in but few localities, and is rare even
in those few. I have but once seen it in the cold season, when I
observed about a dozen birds together in a clump of small saplings
and bushes; they kept close to one another and moved about very
continuously and rapidly from one sapling to another, not visiting at
all the few big trees that were close by. During the rains and hot
weather, all the birds I have seen, whether in pairs only or in small
flocks, were scuttling and dodging about in the thick scrub jungle
and appeared to have deserted the higher trees altogether. When
disturbed in scrub jungle they do not fly for any distance, but take
short flights from one bush to another until they consider themselves
safe, very much in the manner of many Babblers. They are, however,
capable of long flights, and are, I think, stronger on the wing than
most members of this sub-family, and their flight also is very fairly
steady. Their principal note is the ‘‘ loud mellow warble’? men-
tioned by Jerdon, but my experience does not prove that it is often
494 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892.
used, for I have found them to be very silent birds, probably because
T have not observed them in the cold weather. Their other cries
-are not unlike the less harsh sounds made by Hypsipetes, and, when
angry or frightened, they utter, as already mentioned, a cry almost
exactly like that of Molpastes pygeus.
T have never observed this bird below 4,500 feet, and seldom as
low as that.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES.
By J. A. BreTHam.
Parr VI.
(Concluded from Vol. VI., page 331.)
FAMILY V., HESPERIIDZ,
We now come to the family known scientifically as the Hesperide.
They are commonly called ‘‘ Skippers,’ the name being given them
evidently because of their jerky method of flight. They are gene-
rally rather small butterflies of dingy colours, and are sometimes
crepuscular in their habits; many of them are found resting in dark,
secluded spots during the day. These are more active towards the
evening and in the early morning when they issue forth to sip the
nectar of flowers. During the day, if disturbed, they do not, asa rule,
fly far; but after a few turns in the air settle again; most of the
species, however, fly about in the bright sunshine. Their flight is
extremely rapid and it is very difficult to follow their movements.
Some of them rest with their wings outspread ; but most of them fold
their wings upright over their backs when resting, while a few rest
with the forewings raised and the hindwings flat or nearly so. Some
rest on the ground and on stones, others on the upper surface, and
others again on the under surface of leaves; these latter nearly
always with wide outspread wings. The number which will be
found after the specific name of each butterfly is that given in
Hesperiidee Indice by Lieut. E. Y. Watson, M.S.C., in which book
they are fully described.
Badamia exclamationis, Fabricius (1). This is a plain brown butter-
fly with long narrow wings, which are paler on the underside. It
has three transparent yellowish spots on the forewing. The body is
dark brown with pale bands to the abdomen. This butterfly flies
very fast and settles with wings upright on the undersides of leaves,
and is often crepuscular in its habits.
Bibasis sena, Moore (17), I have only one specimen of this handsome
‘“‘Skipper ” taken some years ago at Pachmarhi. It is chiefly remark-
able from the wings being bordered with red. The underside of the
hindwing has a conspicuous white band crossing it transversely.
496 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Parata chromus, Cramer (18). Thisis a very dark brown “Skipper ”
looking almost black. The underside in the male has a purple
gloss, and is crossed by a whitish band. The female is paler than
the male, and has three semi-transparent spots on the forewing. It
flies very rapidly, is often crepuscular in its habits, though frequently
seen in the day-time feeding on strongly scented flowers like the
pomelo, orange and lime blossom. When at rest it folds its wings
upright over its back and settles sometimes on the underside of leaves.
Parata alexis, Fabricius (19). This closely resembles the last, but is
smaller and has a broader white band on the underside of the
hindwing. Its habits are very similar,
Matapa aria, Moore (23), This is a pale brown “Skipper” re-
markable for its red eyes. I took it at Pachmarhi, chiefly near
streams and close to waterfalls. These seemed to be its favourite
haunts, and it delighted to flit about where the spray of the water
fell, apparently revelling in the soft moist atmosphere of the Khuds
caused by the falling water.
Baoris oceia, Hewitson (383). A dark brown “Skipper” with a
few pale yellow semi-transparent spots on the forewing. The male
has a tuft of long, dark brown hairs, likea miniature paint brush, on
the upperside of the hindwing.
Chapra mathias, Fabricius (35). This is the very common little
pale brown ‘“‘Skipper’’ with pale yellow semi-transparent spots on the
forewing, met with nearly all over India. It affects the brightest
sunshine as well as the deepest shade. It generally rests with the
forewing raised and the hindwing flat.
Parnara guttata, Bremer and Grey (41). This has been known
generally as P.bada, but Mr. Elwes considers these two are one and
the same species. It resembles the last mentioned ‘‘Skipper” very
much ; but the males have not the glandular streak on the forewing
which is present in the genus Chapra.
Parnara bevani, Moore (44). Extremely like the last and difficult
to distinguish from it ; but in this the hindwing is devoid of spots,
while in P. guttata there is arow of four small semi-transparen;
spots.
Parnara plebeia, de Nicéville (50). This very much resembles the
last in shape, but is larger and of a darker brown. |
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. 427
Suastus gremius, Fabricius (66). This looks very much like
C. mathias, but the underside is grey instead of pale brown, and the
spots on the underside of the hindwing are black instead of being
pale yellow and semi-transparent. It is very common and has the
same habits as C. mathias, The larva feeds on the date-palm.
Sarangesa purendra, Moore (71). A dark glossy-brown looking
“‘Skipper” with numerous semi-transparent spots and marks on the
wings. ‘The border of the wings is alternately brown and grey. It
rests with its wings extended, chiefly on rocks and stones; but
frequently on the upperside of leaves. If disturbed it goes off with
a rapid flight; but invariably returns to the same spot, or one close
by, so that it is easily captured.
Sarangesa sati, de Nicéville. This is not described in Mr.
Watson’s book. It is smaller than its relatives, and the spots on the
upperside are very minute or scarcely discernible.
Telicota augias, Linneus (74). A yellow and black ‘* Skipper,”
fairly common in most places. It rests with the forewing raised
and the hindwing flat.
Telicota bambuse, Moore (75). Very similar in appearance and
habits to the above ; but with the yellow markings deeper and darker
and not carried out to the outer margin along the veins, as in the
last species, on the upperside of the forewing.
Padraona dara, Kollar (78). Very like the two preceding, but
with the yellow markings broader. It is also a very much smaller
insect.
Padraona palmarum, Moore (83). The yellow markings in this
‘‘ Skipper” are paler than the above and it is altogether larger.
Ampittia maro, Fabricius (84). Similar to the above, the yellow
markings being paler and much broader, so that it looks quite yellow
while flying. Itis also a much smaller insect than P. dara or
P. palmarum.
Taractrocera mevius, Fabricius (86). A paler edition altogether of
the above lot of ‘ Skippers.”’
Isoteinon vindhiana, Moore (122). Perhaps the same as J. nilgiriana,
Moore (123). A tiny dark brown “Skipper” with a few white spots
on the forewing on the upperside. It is very fond of dark, shady
spots.
498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1592.
Satarupa bhagava, Moore (129). The ground-colour of the wings of
this “ Skipper” is a dark brown, and the hindwing has a broad white
band across it which extends into the forewing, at the apex of which
there is a band of white spots. The white band on the hindwing is
bordered with black spots, and there are two or three black spots on
the band itself towards the upper portion. Its face, as one might
say, is yellow. I found it at Pachmarhi and nowhere else.
Tagiades ravi, Moore (185). A large dark brown “Skipper ” with
some white spots on the forewing. The underside of the hindwing
is greyish-white. This “Skipper” rests on the underside of leaves
with its wings extended flat. It has a remarkable way of disappear-
ing, for in its flight it is very conspicuous on account of the contrast
between the colouring of the upper and undersides ; but as soon as it
settles down it is out of sight, and to secure it requires good eyesight
and patient search.
Abaratha ransonettii, Felder (148). The wings of this ‘‘ Skipper”
have a tessellated appearance from the presence of numerous white
and pale brownish-yellow spots. The hindwing is prettily curved
and angled. It rests on the underside of leaves.
Abaratha syrichthus, Felder (150). Altogether a paler insect than
the above with wings having a more regularly tessellated appearance.
It rests on the ground or on rocks with wings extended flat. It
also delights in sipping the moisture from muddy and damp spots so
often found on the roadside.
Coladenia tissa, Moore (168). A handsome “Skipper” with brown
wings marked with white, black and orange spots. It rests with wings
extended flat, and iscommon in Jabalpur after the rains. It delights
in rather shady spots.
Udaspes folus, Cramer (176). A rather large dark brown “ Skipper ”’
with conspicuous white spots on both wings. The hindwing on the
underside has a rich brown patch as wellasa white one. It rests
on the ground usually with forewing raised upright and the hind-
wing flat. In common with many other “Skippers” it gives a
circular sort of motion to its hindwing while resting.
Notocrypta restricta, Moore (180). This butterfly resembles the
last very much in habits. The white spots on the forewing are,
however, differently arranged, the inner ones are replaced by a pure
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. 429
white band, while those between the band and the apex of the
wing are much smaller, the one nearest to the front margin being at
right angles to it, and the two below this being smaller and following
the direction of the outer margin of the wing; there is also another
small spot, rather like a streak, between these two spots and the
white band. The hindwing is spotless and of the general ground-
colour, which is a rich brown. On the underside the spots on the
forewing are reproduced, and there is a greyish band between them
and the outer margin, the hindwing has two similar greyish bands
running across it. The cilia or fringe of the wings is grey in the
hind, and brown in the forewing. The antenne, just below the
clubbed tip, have a white band around them.
Celenorrhinus leucocera, Kollar (192). A large dark “Skipper ”’
with a numberof white transparent spots forming a band on
the forewing, and some yellow ones on the hindwing. The shaft of
the antennz, in the male only, is snow-white above, hence its name.
This and the next are very similarin appearance, but this species
rests with its wings flat, while Nofocrypta rests with them closed over
the back. They are fond of dark and shady places, and frequently
settle on the walls of verandahs, stables and outhouses in the localities
where they arefound. They are distinctly crepuscular in their habits.
Celenorrhinus ambareesa, Moore (195). The spots on the forewing
of this “Skipper” are pale yellow instead of white, and there are
besides some yellow spots which are not transparent on the forewing.
It is very similar in appearance and habits to the foregoing.
Astictopterus salsala, Moore (208). A small dark brown ‘Skipper ’’
with a very few minute spots. The underside is of a rich chestnut-
brown.
Hesperia galba, Fabricius (220). A very small black and white
““Skipper ”’ common almost everywhere. It skips and flits about tlie
grass like a little moth, and affects the bright sunshine.
I have now finished with all the species of butterflies that are
found in these parts except one. ‘This is Medanitis szitenius which
looks like an enlarged edition of Medanitis ismene. It was sent to me
by a man collecting for me in Bastar. Should I come across any
species not hitherto mentioned in this series of papers, I will record
the fact in the pages of this Journal.
57
LES FORMICIDES DE L’EMPIRE DES INDES ET DE
CEYLAN.
Par AvaustE Forzt,
Professeur 4 Université de Ziirich.
Part II.
SUITE AU GENRE CAMPONOTUS, MAYR.
1. Sous-genre Camponotus sens. strict., Mayr.
22. C. Wroughtonii, nov.-sp.
8 minor:—L. 5:5 a 6:5 mill. Mandibules armées de 5 dents,
luisantes, abondamment ponctuées. Du reste trés-semblable a la
race cethiops (Latr.) du C, maculatus. Hpistome subcaréné, n’ayant
devant qu’un lobe assez peu développé, arrondi, entier au milieu de
son bord antérieur. Arétes frontales plus divergentes que chez le
C. ethiops. Téte nullement rétrécie derriére les yeux, méme un
peu plus large derriére que devant. Face basale du métanotum fort
convexe, ce qui le distingue aussi du C. ethiops; mais elle est
moins séparée de la face déclive que chez le C. marginatus. caille
biconvexe, basse, assez tranchante 4 son bord supérieur. Tuibias
tout-a-fait cylindriques, sans petits piquants 4 leur bord interne.
Trés luisant et trés faiblement chagriné partout, méme sur le
devant de la téte. Ponctuation éparse, superposée, presque nulle,
sauf une petite fossette peu apparente de chaque cdté des bords
antérieur et postérieur de l’épistome.
Quelques poils d’un jaune brundtre sur abdomen et sur la téte.
Pilosité presque nulle ailleurs, nulle sur les tibias, les scapes et les
joues. Pubescence adjacente trés courte et extrémement diluée,
méme sur les tibias et les scapes oti elle est fort peu apparente.
D’un noir brunatre luisant; thorax, scapes et hanches d’un brun
foncé ou noiratre. Mandibules, devant de la téte, funicules et pattes
d’un rouge brunatre. Segments de l’abdomen largement bordés de
jaune.
$ :—L. 5°34 5°8. Mill. Téte élargie derriére. Un sillon médian
antérieur et deux sillons latéraux postérieurs sur le mésonotum.
Subopaque, densément reticulé; abdomen assez luisant. Ailes
grandes, teimtées de brun-noiritre. Nervures et tache marginale
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN., 431
brunes. Pilositéet pubescence comme chez Vouvriére. Entiérement
noir.
Himalayas, 4 9000’ de hauteur. Récolté par M. Smythies.
Dans le tableau analytique (Part I) sous le chiffre 7, 4 cdté du
C. reticulatus, mais:—‘ Luisant. L. 5°5 4 6°5. mill. Faiblement
“chagriné. Epistome lobé, entier. Tibias sans piquants,”’
23. C. marginatus (Latr.)
Var. himalayanus, n: var.
%:—L.7410 mill. Noir avec les funicules, les tibias et les
tarses brundtres ; les hanches et les cuisses d’un jaune roussitre vif.
Cette variété différe de la forme typique d’Europe par sa grande
taille et sa couleur. Certains exemplaires de Japon sont presque
identiques,
Dans le tableau analytique on la placera 4 cété du C. Wroughtonii
(Chiffre 7) mais on mettra:—‘‘Epistome fortement échancré au
“milieu de son bord antérieur, sans lobe; tibias armés de quelques
*‘ piquants 4 leur bord interne.”
7. C. reticulatus (Roger.)
Var. Jatitans, n. var.
% :—D’un brun jaunitre ou d’un jaune brunitre assez homogéne
partout; bord des segments abdominaux jaunatre. Pilosité blanchatre,
assez abondante sur la téte, les scapes et lethorax. Métanotum assez
distinctement concave dans le sens longitudinal (impression transver-
sale). Téte dela ¥ major seulement un peu plus longue que large,
épaisse, faiblement subtronquée devant, tendant a la forme du soldat
des Golobopsis. Epistome seulement un peu plus large devant que
derriére, échancré au milieu de son bord antérieur. Les angles
inférieurs —postérieurs du pronotum sont prolongés en lobe arrondi,
un peu translucide. Les antennes de la % minor sont beaucoup
plus longues que celles de la % major.
Ceylan (Major Yerbury) ; nid dans une tige creuse.
race: Yerburyi, n. st.
% Major :—Téte rectangulaire, bien plus longue que large, sub-
tronquée devant, 4 cdtés non, ou 4 peine, convexes (distinctement
convexes chez la yariété Jatitans) et avec le bord antérieur aussi
432 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892
large que le bord postérieur qui est excavé. Hpistome aussi large
derriére que devant. Sur la téte de grosses fossettes superposées
plus distinctes et bien plus abondantes que chez le reticulatus, var.
latitans. Derriére de la téte, thorax et abdomen assez luisants, avec
une sculpture bien plus faible que chez le reticelatus, var. latitans,
réticulée sur les premiers, ridée transversalement sur Vabdomen.
Métanotum et pilosité comme chez la variété Jatitans, mais les tibias
ont quelques poils dressés.
Noir, pattes et scapes brunitres ; mandibules, bord antérieur de le
+éte et funicules rougedtres. Extrémité des hanches, anneaux
fémoraux, extrémité des tarses et bord des segments abdominaux,
jaunatres. L. 3°385°3 mill. comme la variété latitens du reticu-
Jatus & laquelle il est du reste identique.
Ceylan (Major Yerbury).
Le C. reticulatus appartient au groupe novogranadensis, fastigatus,
etc. Il est court et robuste. a 8% minor de la race Verbwryi a les
mémes particularités que la § major, avec les attributs de la 3
minor.
21. ©. maculatus (Fab.)
race: dichrous ( Forel.)
Forme typique, distincte dela variété Kattensis. M. Smythies a
trouvé dans le Bas Himalaya ot jusqw’ici la variété Kattenszs seule
avait été trouvée.
race : thraso, 0. st.
% Minor et submedia. UL. 4°54 6°5 mill. Ressemble beaucoup @
la & minima du compressus, dont il a exactement la pilosité, la
pubescence, et presque la sculpture et la couleur. Ressemble
aussi & la 8 minor du ©. mitis, var. fuscithorax dont il a la
forme. Mat, densément réticulé; abdomen subopaque, densément
ridé; fond de la sculpture granulé. Dents des mandibules courtes,
souvent usées. Heaille comme chez le mitis. Tibias nullement pris-
matiques, 4 peine comprimés, sans aucun piquant a leur bord interne.
Téte non rétrécie derriére les yeux, a bord postérieur distinct. D’un
noir brun; funicules, mandibules et devant de la téte rougetres.
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 433
Pattes brunes. Epistome comme chez le C. mitis. La 8 major est
probablement plus petite que celles du mitis.
Ceylan (Major Yerbury).
race: Taylori (Forel).
var. infuscoides, n. var.
% Minor et submedia :—L. 4:7 & 5:5 mill. Pattes plus longues que
chez le Taylori typique. Noir luisant, avec les pattes et les scapes
brunatres, les tarses et les funicules jaunitres. La forme plus svelte
que chez le Taylori, le rapproche de Vinfuscus. C’est une forme
intermédiaire.
24. C. nirvana, 0. sp.
% Major:—L. 6:2 mill. Mandibules courtes, obtuses, armées
de 5 4 6 dents, mates ou subopaques extrémement, finement
et densément réticulées-ridées, presque sans _ ponctuation.
Téte rectangulaire, bien plus longue que large, subtronquée devant,
comme chez le (. reticulatus, race Yerburyi, mais un peu
plus large derriére que devant, assez fortement échancrée derriére.
Yeux situés au deux cinquiémes postérieurs des cétés de la téte. Epis-
tome rectangulaire-arrondi, plutét plus étroit devant que derriére,
presque sans portions latérales, aplati, sans caréne, ni lobe, ni échan-
crure devant. Arétes frontales longues, distinctes et trés divergentes.
Les scapes n’atteignent pas les angles postérieurs de la téte. Thorax
large, subdéprimé en dessus, sans échancrure, mais avec les sutures
fortement imprimées. Face basale du métanotum subbordée,
rectangulaire, un peu plus longue que large ; face déclive obliquement
tronquée, un peu concave, subbordée comme chez le C. reticulatus.
Eecaille trés basse, trés large, deux fois aussi large que haute & bord
supérieur obtus, transversal; épaisseur mediocre. Pattes courtes.
Assez densément réticulé et subopaque; occiput et vertex plus
faiblement réticulés, assez Inisants. Abdomen luisant, chagriné.
Devant de la téte un peu plus fortement réticulé-ponctué. Quelques
grosses fossettes, irréguliéres sur l’épistome et trés peu sur les joues.
Pilosité dressée jaunatre trés éparse, trés courte et un peu obtuse ;
une rangée de poils entre les deux faces du métanotum. Tuibias et
scapes sans poils dressés, sans piquants, avec une pubescence
adjacente diluée, trés fine, qui est encore plus éparse ailleurs,
434 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Rougeatre, abdomen noir. Mandibules et bord antérieur de la
téte d’un brun foncé. KEeaille, hanches et cuisses brunatres.
% Minor:—L. 4:8 mill. Epistome convexe, assez distinctement
caréné, légérement échancré devant, au milieu, sans lobe, beaucoup
plus large devant que derriére. Téte plus large derriére que devant
ot elle est trés obtuse. Scapes longs, dépassant les angles postérieurs
de la téte de plus d’un quart de leur longueur. Pronotum subépaulé,
avec une impression longitudinale médiane. Dos du thorax plus
déprimé que chez la % major. Meésonotum et face basale du
métanotum trés distinctement subbordés. Cette derniére plus
allongée que chez la 3 major.
Du reste comme la ¥ major, mais la pilosité est plus longue et
pointue et la couleur plus foncée. Téte et thorax d’un brun foncé ;
scapes, base des funicules et pattes d’un brun jaunatre. Sculpture
de la téte plus faible que chez la % major. Epistome presque sans
gros points enfoncés. Mandibules comme chez la % major, mais
plus étroites.
@ :—L. 7:8 4 8 mill. Comme la 3 major, mais les mandibules
ont en outre une ponctuation espacée assez distincte et les joues par
fois des fossettes plus distinctes. Mésonotum densément réticulé-
ponctué et mat. Métanotum fort convexe. Couleur assez semblable
a celle dela 8 major, mais le devant de la téte et le scutellum
rougedtres et l’abdomen d’un brun roussatre plus clair que chez les
ouvrieres. Ailes subhyalines, un peu jaunatres. Nervures et tache
marginale d’un jaune pale. Du reste comme l’ouvriere.
Les @ proviennent de Kanara (M. Wroughton), une 8 minor de
Poona (M. Wroughton) et une 3 major de l’Inde, sans localité
particuliére indiquée. Malgré ces différentes provenances, je crois
étre certain qu’elles appartiennent a la méme espéce. Le C. nirvane
est voisin du C. varians (Roger), mais plus grand, avec une sculpture
différente, sans échancrure thoracique. L’écaille est toute autre.
Dans le tableau il doit étre placé sous le chiffre 3, 4 cdté du C. varians
avec les différences indiquées.
C. Lamarckii (Forel).
Une 8 major 4 pubescence un peu plus courte
Kanara (M. Bell).
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 436
2. SOUS-GENRE COLOBOPSIS (MAYR).
Tableau des espéeces de la faune de l’Empire des Indes et de Ceylan
(4, 8, 2).
1. la partie de l’épistome située dans la surface tronquée chez
la 2 et le 2 est fortement rétrécie d’arriére en avant et
s’éléve au dessus des cétés de l’épistome; pas de caréne
médiane. Thorax des 8 etdes Q avec une profonde
échancrure méso-métathoracique. Troncature del’ épistome
faible, 4 peine subbordée............0000 C. angustata (Mayr).
La partie de l’épistome située dans la surface tronquée chez
la Q et le 2 est faiblement ou pas rétrécie d’arriére en
avant, pas plus élevée que les cétés del’épistome. L’épistome
a en général une caréne médiane. Thorax des 8 et des
2 sans échancrure distincte, seulement avec des
sutures marquées. Troncature de lépistome forte, bordée
d’une aréte aigue .......... Sassen eeincddeats mest es ene canretieniser 2
2. Taille petite. Le devant de la bate du 2 et dela Q, derriére la
troncature, et densément est assez finement ridé-réticulé ;
Ze distinct dela. 8 sccs.ss05 5000 eee weee-e Rothneyi, n. sp.
Taille assez grande. Le devant de la tétedu Q et dela 2;
derriére la troncature, est trés grossi¢rement strié-ridé ;
les rides sont distantes et longitudinales. Des individus
formant le-passawe de la, Si aul QZ) ..d.cc.2:s01eercasterereoesa so
3. Noir. Une épaisse pubescence jaunatre formant duvet .........
C. pubescens (Mayr).
Rougeadtre. Pubescence beaucoup plus courte et plus diluée,
ne formant pas duvet ..........e.s000. C. Saundersi (Emery).
ListE DEs COLOBOPSIS DE L’ INDE AVEC DESCRIPTION DES
ESPHCES NOUVELLES, SYNONYMIE ET GEOGRAPHIE.
1. C. Rothneyi, n. sp.
2. :—L, 4 mill. Plus petite que la C. truncata (Spinola) d’Kurope
‘laquelle elle ressemble beaucoup, et dont elle différe par les
caractéres suivants :
Mandibules subopaques, finement et densément ridées-réticulées,
sans points enfoncés épars. Epistome fortement caréné au milieu et
plus fortement rétréci devant, sur la troncature; sa portion postérieure
’ la troneature est moins de deux fois aussi large que longue et
436 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
divisée en deux par un sillon médian. Yeux situés un peu plus en
avant et un peu plus grands. Scapesun peu plus courts, n’atteig-
nant pas les angles postérieurs de la téte (les dépassant un peu chez
la C. truncata). Thorax plus large, plus court, mais rétréci derriére.
Mésonotum beaucoup plus large que long (aussi large que long chez
la C. truncata). Troneature de la téte assez grossiérement réticulée
a peu prés comme chez la C. truncata. Devant de la téte, derriére la
truncature, assez mat, finement et densément réticulé-ponctué, avec
des rides longitudinales assez fines, assez serrées et irréguliéres, un
peu plus grossiéres sur les cdtés. Chez la C. truncata cette partie de
ia téte est simplement grossiérement réticulée. Le reste du corps est
finement chagriné ; derriére de la téte et thorax un peu plus réticulés
et moins luisants que chez la C. truncata.
Pilosité presque nulle; les poils courts et obtus de la téte de la
C. truncata font entiérement defaut.
Abdomen d’un noir brunitre sans tache, avec le bord des segments
jaunitre. Le reste du corps d’un-jaune rougeatre un peu plus clair
que chez la C. truncata.
© :—L.7 mill. Plus grande relativement au 4 que chez la
C. truncata. Téte plus allongée. Métanotum un peu plus convex.
Ailes subhyalines, 4 peine un peu jaunatres. Nervures et tache
marginale pales. Du reste comme le Z, c.a.d. comme la C. truncata
@, avee les mémes différences que chez le 2
Barrackpore (M. Rothney) un 2
Orissa (M. Taylor) une @.
© 2. C. angustata (Mayr).
2 :—L. 9:2 mill.; correspond du reste 4 la description de Mayr.
Barrackpore (M. Rothney).
Var. Sigyit, n, var.
Z :—L. 5:3 4 5:8 mill. Mandibules armées de 6 dents. Téte a
cétés convexes, un peu plus large derriére que devant, un peu plus
longue que large, 4 troncature assez faible et seulement subbordée,
tout-a-fait comme chez la @. Pronotum et mésonotum formant
ensemble une forte convexité. Une profonde échanerure entre le
mésonotum et le métanotum. Face basale du métanotum plutot
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 437
étroite, convexe longitudinalement et transversalement, s’élevant en
arricre ot elle est abruptement tronquée et presque bordée. Face
déclive concave, bordée Jatéralement et presque bordée en haut,
subverticale, Ecaille fort mince, assez tranchante, assez élevée, large-
ment et faiblement échancrée & son bord supérieur. Pattes et
antennes plutot courtes. Yeux situés au quart postérieur des cdtés
de la téte.
LLisse, trés luisante, faiblement chagrinée. Ponctuation trés
éparse, un peu plus forte et plus abondante derriére la troncature,
sur les cétés.
Une pilosité dressée assez courte, fine, pointue, d’un jaune rous-
sitre, abondante sur les pattes, sur les scapes et sur le corps.
Pubescence presque nulle.
Noire. Mandibules, devant de la téte et front rougeitres. Scapes,
hanches et cuisses brunatres. Funicules, tibias et tarses d’un brun
rougeitre ou roussitre. Segments abdominaux faiblement bordés de
jaunitre.
3 :—L. 3:8 44:2 mill. Mandibules armées de 5 dents. Téte
obtuse, mais sans troncature. Epistome grand, fort convexe, bien
plus large devant que derriére, subcaréné, 4 bord antérieur léyére-
ment convexe ef un peu avancé au milieu. Tete bien plus large
derriére que devant. Métanotum comme chez le 2, mais plus
étroit et avec la face déclive 4 peine subbordée. Ecaille un peu plus
convexe devant et moins échanerée en haut que chez le 2. Noire;
scapes et pattes bruns; mandibules, funicules et tarses dun brun
roussitre. Du reste comme le 2, mais la pubescence un peu plus
accentuée.
Bangkok (M. H. Sigg, de Zurich.)
Cette 8 et ce 2 sont-ils bien la C. angustata? La conformation
de la téte du Q me le fait croire avec une probabilité voisine
de la certitude. Cependant la pilosité plus courte et plus
abondante ainsi que la couleur plus foneée me font admettre
qu il s’agit Vune variété particuliére.
3. C. pubescens (Mayr).
Camponotus Leonardi (Emery).
Birmanie ( Major Bingham).
Tenasserim et Birmanie (Fea, d’aprés Emery).
58
438 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
4, C. Saindersi (Emery).
Tenasserim (Fea, d’aprés Emery).
Se trouve aussi 4 Sumatra. Le 2 a la téte trés élargie devant,
fortement tronquée et avec un bord trés aigu, ce qui est aussi le cas
chez la 9, ainsi que chez le 2 et la @ de la C. pubescens ; mais chez
cette derniére espéce le bord de la troncature est moins élevé et plus
obtus.
d. C. stricta (Jerdon).
Malabar (d’aprés Jerdon).
D’aprés Mayr (Syn: Brit: Museum, 1886), la Formica stricta
(Jerdon) est une Colobopsis. D’aprés Jerdon cette espéce aurait le
métanotum bidenté. Mais comme il est impossible de savoir, ni par
Jerdon, ni par Mayr, les caractéres de la téte, ni méme sil s’agit
d’un 2 ou d’une 3, je n’ai pu placer cette espéce dans le tableau
syhonymique.
6. C. Cotesti, n. sp.
%:—L. 4:3 mill. Mandibules avec le bord externe fortement
convexe prés de sa base, plus étroites que chez la C. truncata.
Téte presque aussi large que longue, subtronquée devant, avec le
bord antérieur droit. Epistome grand, large, faiblement caréné,
conyexe vers le haut. Une impression longitudinale sur le front,
jusqu’au vertex. Téte un peu plus large derriére que devant.
Suture pro-mésonotale fortement imprimée. La partie antérieure
du mésonotum forme, vue de profil, avec la partie posterieure du
pronotum une surface bien plus faiblement convexe que le devant
du pronotum et le derriére du mésonotum. Une forte échancrure
entre le mésonotum et le métanotum. Métanotum étroit; sa face
basale trés étroite, fortement convexe transversalement, faiblement
convexe longitudinalement, aussi longue que le pronotum et assez
horizontale, passe par une courbe forte et rapide 4 la face déclive
qui est bien plus courte yu’elle et trés abrupte, & peu prés subverti-
cale, mais nullement bordée. Ecaille é@paisse, fortement convexe
devant, plane derriére, 4 bord obtus et large, échanerée au sommet
comme chez la C. truncata, mais plus épaisse au sommet.
Finement réticulée ou réticulée-ridée et subopaque ou faiblement
luisante. Abdomen faiblement chagriné et luisant. Devant de la
téte finement réticulé-ponctué. Mandibules densément et finement
LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN 439
vidées. Presque glabre. Quelques poils épars assez longs surla
téte et l’abdomen. Pubescence presque nulle, trés espacée sur les
tibias et les scapes, qui n’ont pas de poils dressés.
D’un brun foncé, un peu rougedtre. Abdomen noir, avec deux
taches allongées d’un jaune roussitre 4 sa base. Mandibules d’un
jaune roussatre. Devant de la téte et scapes d’un rougeitre foncé.
Base des funicules, tarses, et tibias d’un brun jaunatre.
Mussoori Hills (M. Rothney).
Ne connaissant nile A nila ¢, je ne l’ai pas intercalée dans le
tableau. Le Q a probablement la téte fortement tronquée. Cette
% est suffisamment distincte de toute les autres esptces par sa téte
courte et subtronquée, l’échancrure du thorax, la forme du métano-
tum, les mandibules, etc. Elle ressemble 4 la CO. impressa (Roger),
mais le métanotum est plus long, Vécaille plus haute, et la taille
plus grande.
NOTES ON A VISIT TO THLE ISLANDS OF RODRIGUEZ,
MAURITIUS AND REUNION.
By Rrar-Apurrat W. R. Keyyevy.
(With a Plate.)
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 29th November, 1892.)
Ir may be of interest to some of the readers of your Journal if
I give you an account of our visit to the islands of Rodriguez,
Mauritius, Réunion, ete., some of which places are but little known
to the general public. Leaving Galle harbour on the 7th June,
we shaped course for Rodriguez, arriving off the island after a very
pleasant sail of 11 days.
Rodriguez Island, or Diego Rais, as 1t was once called, lies 320
miles to the eastward of Mauritius, of which it is a dependency. It
is but seldom visited by passing ships and very little is known of it ;
occasionally a man-of-war touches there for the sake of sport, and
the pleasure of a run ashore on one of the few spots on the globe
where the tourist is unknown. Happily this must be the case for
many years to come, on account of its isolated position and the
difficulty of reaching it, except by man-of-war or steam yacht, to say
nothing of the quarantine regulations which are very strict; vessels
arriving there from Mauritius are invariably subjected to 21 days’
quarantine, be they ever so healthy. his alone is sufficient to deter
most people from visiting the place. However, as we hailed from
Ceylon and possessed a clean bill of health, we were admitted to
pratique at once.
The island is of volcanic formation, mountainous and thickly
wooded in parts, with ravines running down to the sea in all
directions, The lower slopes are open and covered with coarse
yellow grass, and in the interior are extensive plains in which herds
of cattle find pasturage. There is but little cultivation, although
the soil is rich, merely a few plots here and there planted with
maize or potatoes for the owner’s use. Water is scarce and generally
brackish, but there are a few rivulets of sweet water coursing down
the valleys to the sea.
The whole extent of the island is but 10 miles long by 4 broad,
and the highest peak, Point Limon, is 1,300 feet. A coral reef
Journ Bomb Nat Hist Soc
HEAD OF RODRIGUEZ STAG.
Killed by Rear-Admiral W. R, Kennedy.
Extreme length of horn ... a 4
Brow antler... ae ae Corey ae
Upper tine ... ake aes “ed
Sales cee ewe on atc aan 4d
Weight of body, when cleaned, 16 stone 3 Ibs.
UTAO BES PRESS.
RODRIGUEZ, MAURITIUS AND REUNION. 44}
surrounds the island, but an openmg in the reef on the north side
allows a vessel to find a secure anchorage in Port Maturin. This is
the lee side, as the S.-E. trade blows regularly all the year round,
An inner reef fringes the shore onallsides, leaving a shallow passage
for “ piroques,”’ but the navigation is at all times difficult and often
dangerous.
To the sportsman, the naturalist and geologist, Rodriguez offers
unusual attractions. In the old forests herds of deer roam un-
molested, save from naval officers in their rare visits to the island.
These deer were originally introduced some thirty years ago, when
a pair were landed from Borneo and subsequently another pair
from Mauritius. These have done well, and at the present day
probably from 1,500 to 2,000 deer exist on the island, some of the
stags being as much as 20 stone in weight, and carrying fine
heads. Guinea fowl are numerous, but difficult to bag, owing to
the rocky nature of the soil making sport a severe toil. Partridges
abound, also wild pigs, cats, goats, and rabbits on the small islets
round the coast.
The climate is similar to Mauritius, and very pleasant during the
winter months, May till September. It is also very healthy. The
population is about 1,500, mostly creoles of Mauritius, speaking a
French patois.
Fruits of many kinds peculiar to the tropics are abundant.
Mangos, guavas, oranges, limes, citrons, bananas, ete., and in the
woods may be found wild raspberries, and of vegetables, quantities
of chillies, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, yams, sugar-cane,
maize, etc. The waters are teeming with fish of excellent quality,
and turtle visit the island in the breeding season.
In Oyster Bay are some basaltic columns, nearly 200 feet high,
and on the south side are numerous caverns, similar to those in
Bermuda and other coral islands. In fact, the island is largely
composed of coral, bearing evidence of having been up-heaved from
the ocean by volcanic agency ata remote period. No active volcano
exists at the present time,
During our stay of 8 days we organized several ‘chasses” with
very satisfactory results, our sportsmen bagging 30 deer, amongst
them some fine stags, also guinea fowls, partridges and rabbits.
442 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1899.
One splendid stag, which I had the good fortune to kill, weighed
19 stone 3 lbs. (clean) and carried a splendid head, another was
bagged by one of our officers, with a very remarkable malformed head.
I enclose a sketch of the former. Others were in the velvet,
showing, what I have often observed in hot climates, that animals
and birds breed at all times of the year.
Before concluding these remarks on Rodriguez, I will quote from
a letter I lately received from Mr. Colin, Magistrate, on the island,
in which he gives me the following interesting information :—
«One buck and one doe (i.e., stag and hind) were introduced here
«in 1862 by Captain Worth of the barque “Gazelle.” They came
«from Borneo. In 1863 a pair were sent from Mauritius by the
‘¢ Schooner ‘‘ Espoir,” and the species of deer we have here take their
“ origin from the two above breeds. Partridges were brought here
“by Captain Guinol, of the barque ‘‘ Teemayma”’ from Tranquebar.
«‘ The ship was in distress, and a cage full was exchanged for fowls,
“‘ by the magistrate, Mr. Jenner. Thirty-six partridges, and twelve
“ quails were let loose at Oyster Bay, but the latter were destroyed
“‘ by wild cats. Guinea fowls are indigenous to Rodriguez, and were
“‘ found when the island was first inhabited.—In former times there
“ were a great number of large green parrots, but they died away
“‘ after the large fire which destroyed the forests on the western side
‘* of the island.”
“‘Bones of the ‘Dodo’ are still to be found in some caverns.
“« Pilot Bandorous has the bones of a whole Dodo.”
IT may tell you here, that ] am bringing you some Dodo bones,
also the large stone, always found with the bones, which the bird
carried in its stomach (probably for the purpose of digestion).
From the above notes it will be seen that the deer, peculiar to
Rodriguez, are not the true Sambur (Rusa aristotelis), but a cross
between these animals and the Borneo deer or,as some say, the
Javanese animal. The Mauritius deer is, I believe, identical with
the Sambur, having been originally introduced there from Ceylon.
MAURITIUS.
Thirty-two years had elapsed since I last saw this beautiful island,
when as Lieut. in H. M.S. “ Wasp,” I planted the Union Jack upon
RODRIGUEZ, MAURITIUS AND REUNION. 443
the summit of the Peter Botte Mountain. And now alas how it is
changed, for the hurricane of April 29th devastated the island. The
town of Port Louis in ruins, country houses unroofed, sugar-mills
destroyed, churches levelled, trees broken down, or stripped of every
leaf, and sugarcanes flattened to the earth; ships aground or
dismasted, and the lovely gardens at_ Pamplemousse not recognizable.
All this damage was done in 3 hours, and much of it in 5 minutes.
For an hour the wind was registered at the rate of 112 miles an hour,
and for the space of five minutes at 123 miles. Before this awful
blast nothing could stand, and houses of wood and stone went down
like packs of ecards.
The centre of the storm appears to have passed directly over the
ill-fated town, so that its foree may have been even greater than that
registered at the observatory 8 miles away. The whole face of the
country was altered, the mountains alone remaining unchanged, and
the familiar old Peter-Botte reared its head above the sky-line, as we
steamed into the harbour on the 29th June. A good idea of the
force of the wind may be obtained by comparing it with the speed of
an express train travelling at the rate of 60 miles an hour. Anyone
putting his head out of the carriage on such an occasion can fully
appreciate the pressure of the wind at nearly double that speed.
A curious feature about this hurricane seems to have been that
its force was greatest near the earth, and the higher one went the less
was the destruction. Thus at Curepipe, in the centre of the island,
some 1,500 feet above the sea level, the damage done was com-
paratively slight, and it is probable that on the tops of the highest
mountains the wind might have been no more than a strong gale.
As to the cause of these hurricanes, so disastrous in their effects,
and which may be said to be almost peculiar to Mauritius, it is not
easy todetermine. In the present case, neither Réunion or Rodriguez
felt anything of the storm, although situated but 100 and 340 miles
respectively from Mauritius.
Professor Meldrum, of the Royal Observatory, Mauritius, has made
the question his especial study, and his plans showing the paths of
these cyclones, during the last 50 years, are of great interest.
From a glance at Dr. Meldrum’s chart it appears that these
hurricanes have their rise in a spot, roughly speaking, between the
444° -JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892,
parallel of 10° South and the Equator, and 90° to 100° Kast Longitude,
from whence they shape a course direct towards Mauritius and
Réunion, and passing either over those islands, or between them and
Madagascar, are deflected suddenly to the S. E. and lose themselves
in the South Indian Ocean. Cyclones are most numerous during the
months of November, December, January, February, and March,
and occasionally in April, but are almost unknown during the rest
of the year. They would seem to be begotten, so to speak, in the
calm region, existing between the limits of the S.-E. trade wind, and
the region of the N.-E. monsoon, which probably produce a vortex,
or rotary motion in the air. Whether this is the correct solution of
the problem I know not, and leave it to experts to determine.
Dr. Meldrum has a theory in which he traces a distinct connection
between the periods during which the spots in the sun are most
numerous and these cyclones, But while admitting the high authority
of so learned a professor as Dr. Meldrum, I confess I am not scientific
enough to grasp the fact as to why the sun’s influence should be
directed against unfortunate Mauritius in particular, to the exclusion
of other portions of the globe.
The disaster which lately happened to this once-favoured isle
brought forth some of the most heroic qualities of mankind,
and the noble exertions of the Governor, Mr. Hubert Jerningham,
the Doctors, the Military, and many others, not forgetting many
ladies, who devoted themselves to the sick, the wounded and the
dying,— will never be forgotten. Nor, on the other hand, will be the
cowardly and scandalous behaviour of the black Creole population
who refused to exert themselves to rescue the dying or remove
the dead from under the ruins, unless well paid beforehand for
so doing.
In the meanwhile money has poured into the Colony from
public and private sources, and it is confidently hoped that the
dear little island will ere long regain its former prosperity, although
it will be years before its beauty can be restored.
The failure of the New Oriental Bank added much to the distress
of all classes, but, I am happy to say, that before our departure
commercial confidence was being restored; people were becoming
more hopeful for the future, and encouraged by the wide-spread
‘
RODRIGUEZ, WAURITIUS AND REUNION. gas
sympathy everywhere manifested, especially from the mother coun
try, were facing the disaster bravely and cheerfully.
To turn to sport. During our stay several of the wealthy
proprietors organized chisses in our honour, en which occasions
many deer were killed, but the system that obtains of killing small
stags is disastrous and unsportsmanlike and must lead to the
deterioration of the species at no distant period, if not to its
extinction. The hospitality of the land-owners induces them to
invite so many of their friends, that sport is apt to degenerate into
slaughter. The performance always winds up with a sumptuous
banquet. Of other kinds of game there are wild pigs—‘ Cochon
Marron,” partridges of two kinds, Guinea-fowls, &c., &e.
It was a beautiful evening on August 3rd, when the “ Boadicea ”’
and her two little satellites, the ‘‘ Redbreast ’ and “‘ Lapwing,” slipped
their moorings in Port Louis, and spreading their canvas to the
breeze, glided out of the harbour ex route to Madagascar.
REUNION.
Owing to the very strict quarantine regulations which enforce
21 days upon any ships leaving Mauritius, we were unable to land
at this fine island, so we merely anchored off the town, saluted the
French flag, and exchanged complimentary letters with the Governor.
At the time of the disaster at Mauritius the people of Réunion were
prompt and generous in coming to their assistance, and this is the
more creditable from the fact that Réunion is not a rich island, and
is not self-supporting as Mauritius is, the French Government
devoting annually large sums for its maintenance. The island has
no harbour, the usual anchorage off the town of St. Denis being
merely an open roadstead, but a wet dock has been constructed
about a mile to the westward of Shingle Point (Point de Galets).
This dock is nearly 40 acres in extent, and can accommodate ships
300 feet long, and has a depth of 26 feet inside and 29° at the
entrance. Like Mauritius, Réunion is of volcanic formation, one
mountain, the Grande Brilé, being an active voleano. Being in.
the track of hurricanes it is also liable to those visitations,
causing great damage to the crops. Heavy rollers, locally called
“Ras de Marée,”’ occasionally appear on the coast without previous
59
446 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, 1892.
warning, inflicting heavy damage to the harbour works, and stopping
all communication with the shore. Viewed from the sea, Réunion
presents a magnificent appearance, the mountains rising to more
than 10,000 feet. The tops are generally enveloped in clouds, and
that of the “ Piton des Niege’”’ is capped with snow in the winter
months. A railway runs round the island, and I understand from
those who have visited the interior that the scenery is magnificent,
but of this we had no means of judging, and as it was of no use
remaining, we sailed the same evening of our arrival, shaping our
course for Tamatave, the principal seaport of Madagascar.
NOTES ON THE FLORA AND FAUNA
OF THE
KACHIN HILLS.
By Caprain G. H. H. Coucuman.
Flora.—Owing to the practice which prevails amongst the Kachins
of clearing new ground annually for their hill cultivation, large trees
are but seldom seen in the hills. But in the belt of forest below the
hills very fine forests are to be found. In these forests the teak is
common, though never attaining to any great size. The best forest
seen was that between Ayaindama and Manmeugh. In this the teak
was larger than in ether parts of the country, though not so large as I
haveseen in India. The teak is also plentiful along the Molé chaung,
though here it is of small size. That there are large trees to be got
in some parts is evident from the size of the teak posts of some Sawb-
was’ houses, notably at Pumpien, where some of the posts were over
3 feet in diameter. Bamboo is very plentiful, and in the higher
ranges near Sadon, and the frontier near Waror, the hills are covered
with a small species of male bamboo. The India-rubber tree was
frequently seen, but never in any quantity, solitary trees, some
of great size and beauty, being the rule. They are generally easily
distinguishable from the numerous slashes they have on their trunks
made by dah cuts. I saw trees at all elevations between 400 feet and
6,000 feet. Banyans are fairly common. Lemon bushes are very
common, and near Manmeugh I saw a large kind of lemon with a
very acid flavour. Round nearly every Kachin village are to be seen
some magnificent clumps of giant bamboo, which have probably been
planted there; some of these bamboos have a diameter of 8 to 9
inches. I saw one in flower at Letsao near Pumpien. The Kachins
say the seeds, if planted, will not grow, so I conclude the clumps
are formed by planting cuttings, The prickly cane is common
everywhere except close by the Taping. Several ‘‘Wangi” canes were
obtained by digging up the roots of a peculiar kind of bamboo. These
are made into walking-sticks and pipe-stems. The bir tree is very
common, but the fruit is very sour. Itis round, and not like the
elongated cultivated fruit one gets in India. The “ seit” tree was
occasionally met with. It appears to be a kind of palm, having long
448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
pendulous clusters of fruit which are about the size of a racquet ball,
and look like enormous chains of large beads. I was mformed that
the leaves of this tree are edible when young, and that a kind of cloth
is manufactured from the bark. The Kachins call it “ lai-s1.” The
crab-apple was also occasionally met with, and at Nawku near
Alawpum we discovered a large apple with good smell, but did not
discover the tree from which it came. Wild plantain trees are very
numerous along the streams in the plains. One meets occasional
patches of them in the jungle. Only one fir-tree was seen, and that
was at Nawkhum near the Namsang kha, at an elevation of under
5,000 feet. A few cinnamon trees were seen at Kazu and Ningrong,
and three or four stunted mango trees. Horse-chestnuts were seen
near Palap, and also some wild brinjals. The jack-fruit tree was
occasionally seen in the lower hills near the plains. Near Nachang
a fine acid scarlet’ plum was obtained. ‘This was of elongated shape,
5)
and is called by. the Burmese “hmanguthi.” One of the most common
fruits to be got is the yellow raspberry. This has a flavour similar
to the blackberry at home. Itis found everywhere. Wild peach
and greengage trees were very common about Sadon and Wabong.
There was also a tree similiar to a cherry at Wabong. ‘These trees
were all in full blossom in March. Their fruit is said to never ripen
properly, as it is attacked by a small worm, which destroys the fruit
before it has time to ripen. ‘The prickly-pear was seen in the hills
near Kantaoyang. The only place I saw toddy-palms in the hills was
at Shingop, a small Chinese village near Sadon. A very common
tree near Wabong was one with a large purple and white
blossom which had a very sweet smell. I could not find out its
name. In the Sansi gorge towards the summits we saw primulas,
purple primroses, rhododendrons, stunted oaks, and a tree very like
alarch. This latter was also common about Waror and Upra.
Indigo, both cultivated and wild, is very numerous. The wild tea
plant was also observed in large quantities near Palap and Sima.
The Kachins do not drink tea, with the exception of the Yawyins,
but the Chinese do. This tea is very bitter, and has not much market
value, and is used only for the purpose of adulteration. I saw a
single euava tree at Karwun, but nowhere else. Pumpkins appear
to grow wild everywhere, and attain large sizes, Orchids and tree
FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE KACHIN HILLS. 449
ferns are to be found everywhere. There must be very many new
species in these hills. A species of small wild strawberry is very
common, but it is absolutely tasteless; other plants were dog and
white violets and cowslips. The latter only near the Paknoi kha,
where also was a kind of wild sweet-briar. There is a very fine
fodder grass all over these hills. It has a long bamboo-like stem,
from which at intervals of 6 to 9 inches springs a long narrow leaf,
This is very fattening for all animals. Bamboo leaves form a good
fodder, but only for a time, as they are apt to affect the kidneys.
Fauna, §c.—For the sportsman the Kachin hills themselves
do not afford any great attractions. These hills are so densely
populated that the game has been frightened away into the plains
and valleys below. The Kachins themselves all shoot, as numberless
sambur, bison, and other skulls, hung at the entrance of their houses,
attest. The tiger is common, as is also the leopard, both in hills
and plains. ‘Their pugs and dung were seen daily, so that they
must be very numerous. I saw the skins of several freshly-killed
hill bear. These are similar in colour and markings to the ordinary
black bear of the plains of India. The hair, however, is short and
much finer, and they have more white about them. In the plains,
in the neighbourhood of Manmeugh, Ayaindama, and Talaweyi,
elephants and bison are numerous, whilst at the latter place I saw
numerous wild buffalo tracks. On the right bank of the Irrawaddy,
between Hokat and Mogaung, I saw tracks of rhinoceros buffalo, and
bison, and also tsine. This was in 1886, but I hear they are still
there, no one ever having been shooting there. Sambur with very
good heads are very plentiful. In the plains round about Talaweyi
and Myitkyina the ‘“ dyair,” a Burmese deer, is very numerous. Near
the latter place, in 1886, I shot four in a morning on the line of
march. I did not observe any traces at all of either chital or brow-
antlered deer. Nor did I see the “ jee.’’ But the barking deer is
very common both in hills and plains. Others are common in all the
streams. I saw some in the Nantabet choung and one in the Mali
kha. Their traces are very commonly seen. ‘The Gibbon monkey
is found everywhere, and the wild boar is common. Major Yule got
a curious head at Sadankong. ‘This was called the “ takin,” and is
evidently a rare animal of the cow tribe. The horns appear to meet
450 J%OURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
over the forehead in a similar manner to those of the African buffalo.
They are of a curious spiral shape. Of birds the Imperial pigeon is
very common. These birds appear to be very fond of a large sour
kind of plum about the size in circumference of a quarter-anna piece.
They swallow these whole, and I have taken as many as five out of a
bird’s crop. In the marshes near Myothit a large kind of crane was
observed. This is similar to the Indian coolen in colour, shape
and call. Their flight is also similar, but they have a scarlet hood
or crest. I was unfortunately unable to procure a specimen.
Feathers of the silver pheasant were picked up, and one blue kalige
was shot. This is a fine large bird with scarlet cheeks, a black crest,
and inky blue plumage, with a few white feathers in the tail. These
birds are to be found in the jungles below the hills near Bhamo,
Manmeugh, &. Several coveys of francolen partridge were seen.
Major Yule informs me he shot the bamboo partridge near Sadon.
Painted quail and francolen partridge abound in the plains near
Talawgyi, pea-fowl and jungle-fowl on the banks of the larger streams.
Duck, teal, geese, and snipe near the Irrawaddy. I have also shota
few woodcock near Bhamo. There is a peculiar kind of small green
pigeon in these hills, They fly exactly like parrots, having a long
pintail. I never observed these before. Other common green
pigeons were numerous. A curious plover I shot had a peculiar small
spur at the elbow of the wing about half-an-inch long. This spur
pointed to the front and inwards when the wing was extended. The
bird was mouse-coloured on the back, wings white, with black
feathers on the outside edge, head black on top with black crest, and
white on the throat. I saw several of these birds on the sandbanks
of the Irrawaddy river. The cuckoo was occasionally heard in
March. The mahsir is common in all streams. Some up to 12 lbs.
were caught with the rod. A peculiar kind of double-mouthed fish
was caught at Kazu. The best season for sport is from April Ist,
as the jungles are then open, the grass having been burnt.
But although shooting on foot could be carried out, elephants
would certainly help to increase the bag. For elephants and such
like the early rains would be the best time. But it is risky on
account of fever, and just now the country is in a very disturbed
state.
FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE KACHIN HILLS. 451
A woodeock was shot within a mile of the Eastern wall of
Mandalay fort early in December.
I myself saw a woodcock about 15 miles north of Mandalay.
Another officer saw three in the same place.
Hume and Marshall say the Shoveller duck is not to be found in
Burma. This is incorrect, I shot several near Bhamo.
The painted quailisto be found near Pegu. I have seen wild
goats on Byingyi hill, which is between Pyinmana and Yameltren,
about 30 miles to the east of the railway. This hill is over 6,000
feet high. Bison and elephant tracks were very numerous there,
but the hills are very steep and the jungle thick. The top of the
range itself is bare.
UP A HILL.
By W. F. Sruvciatr, I.C.S8.
(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 21st December, 1892.)
On former occasions I have asked you to suppose yourselves
* personally conducted” through scenes not far from Bombay, but
yet beyond the range of a mere weekly holiday; and so, to-night,
I propose to describe the ascent of a hill not more remote than
‘Mahableshwar, and, indeed, in sight of Arthur's Seat. I think that
no ene here to-night has ascended the old mountain metropolis of
Raigarh, but several of us have gone to Mahableshwar ci@ Dasgaum.
About five miles east of Dasgaum, just before reaching the town
of Mhad, the gorge of the Savitri suddenly opens out into a wide
valley, and we ford its little estuary, the Géndhéri, close to their
junction. Halfway through the town, our present route turns to
the left or north by a cross street, and presently brings us out upon
the plain, with the Pali Caves visible on the left, and a low range of
hills, the remnant of a huge trap-dyke, right ahead. Through a
notch in these, we come upon one of those formerly lacustrine valleys
so common in the Konkan, now drained by the Gandhari through
another notch close by. The range, which we may name after the
Pali Caves, runs from 800 to 1,300 feet above the western bank of the
Gandhari, and, as the sun sinks, its shadow gives a sort of twilight
to the valley. To the right front, a great hill called Guhiri ter-
minates and masks another range. After passing the pretty village
of Nate, perched over the river amongst thick set trees, the valley
narrows, and the made-road ceases, while, from behind Guhiri, there
comes into sight a hill of equal size, but distinguished by its more
massive form, somewhat like that of the well-known Prabhal, south
of Matheran, but a trifle loftier and more pudding-headed.
Nate is a usual camping place. A mile or two below it we have
left the estuarine region, which, indeed, has begun to pall upon the
traveller by the Bankot route. Sedge and tamarisk abound in the
river bed. These, and some rice-fields north-east of the camp,
usually hold a few snipe and teal, and the fields, especially near the
river, a handful of quail,—in the cold season be it understood. At
Nate itself, I once saw the small grey Hornbill. This is nota
i ie Con
UP A HILL. 453
common bird hereabouts, but the great Black and White Hornbill is
more abundant in the valley of the Savitri than anywhere to the
northwards in our province, and is a very noticeable bird to a visitor
from the plains.
Like many forest birds and beasts, it makes foraging excursions
to some distance from its natural cover, especially to pipal or pipri
figs where and when ripe. And on such occasions, when flying
across the open, it irresistibly suggests the Prussian eagle broken
loose from one of his thousand shields and flags, to take the air on
his own account, without soldiers in company for once. This
Hornbill, though not an appetizing bird to look at, is as good as
bustard for the table. I once furnished this information, as a“ thing
not generally known ” to a Bombay regiment bound for the Burman
War, and asked, on its return in peace with honour, whether the
same had been verified. The answer was “ Yes, and more than once
it was worth a meal to us.”
On the next day’s march the valley gradually narrows, until at
Konjan, the river runs in a ravine, with steep rock-walls on one side,
and towering, but climbable hills, on the other, the eastern. Up this
a foot-path winds through the woods to a wide ledge on the side of
the Raigarh range, where lies the little village of Pachad, once a
sort of suburb and market to the metropolis far above it. During
the whole of this march, one is struck by the very unoriental appear-
ance of the country. At Nate we parted with palm and bamboo,
and all the valley suggests recollections of those sub-Alpine glens
in which the chestnut takes the place here filled by the mango.
At Pachad, however, a few remnants of old buildings, a temple,
and a dome, bring us back to the east, and the black cliffs, now near
neighbours on all sides, have a colouring and character which is
their own even in the Sahyadri region. A man, long familiar with
this range, if set down at night in a glen new to him, like a Prince in
the Arabian Nights, would yet tell you in the morning where the
water of its burn would seek the sea; and a view from Mahablesh-
war is very different from one near Khandala or Igatpuri. Here
at Pachad, we seem to be on part ofa great level plain, looking down
upon another to the north-west, (the valley of Mangaum), and
dominated by the Mahabaleshwar Ghats to the south-east, while here
60
454 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
and there on its surface rise isolated hills, such as Raigarh, close
above us, and Guhiri a few miles away. The truth is that we are
upon a remnant of such a plain. But wind and water have furrowed
it with glens that are really a thousand feet deep, and though we
can only see the single one close to our feet, we could not walk a mile
without crossing one such, nor ten miles, across the apparent plain,
without crossing half-a-dozen. This seemingly continuous plateau
is itself exceedingly bare looking. The flat ground on it is the most
cultivable, and where there is any soilover the basalt, is under crop
in the rains. The woods are pushed down into the glens, or lie in
long dark lines along the foot of the cliffs, where the débris of ages
has formed a “talus,” particularly favorable to tree growth.
Throughout the North Konkan such a line on the mountain side
is a mark for the botanist who seeks the evergreen giants, here at
the edge of their province, and the rarer forest fruits and flowers,
and here our friend the Hornbill, and the fruit-eating pigeons and
doves, delight in shade and safety.
In the Raigarh region the forests have few other inhabitants for
the sportsman. In several weeks of continuous forest work, I never
heard the jungle cock or peacock, and only once the spur-fowl, and
was, indeed, very glad to supplement the wretched supplies of the
hill hamlets with doves and ‘‘ Did-ye-do-its.”” These despised fowls,
indeed, make capital soup. The mammalia are equally scarce. The
reason seems to be that this region has, ever since Raja Sivaji’s time,
(nearly two centuries and-a-half ago), contained a population exceed-
ing the production of the soil, and hungry accordingly. For long;
it was largely fed by plunder, and it still subsists largely on the more
honourable pay and pensions of the Bombay Army. But times have
pressed hard upon everything eatable that could be trapped or shot,
and the forests, which were probably never much to boast of on this
thin and scanty soil, were evidently greatly cut into when Raigarh
wasa market for fuel and timber, and for the coarse grains that
replaced the trees. They have, of late years, regained some ground
and some condition, but it will be long before (if ever) they regain
an animal population of any importance. Fishes there are on the
Pachad Plateau, some hundreds of little creatures crowded together
inaspring. I brought away specimens for our Museum from this
UP A HILL. 455
and from many similar places in the Savitri basin, all over 1,000 feet
above the sea, and cut off by cascades and dry beds from the ingress
of lowland species. Amongst some 500 specimens, I could only find
three distinguishable species, two loaches and a Discognathus or
mountain carp, which seems to be that originally described by Dr. Day
as Mayoa modesta. The villagers say that these climb up the hill
sides when streaming with moisture during the monsoon. The tale
is strange; but many of us have seen the Bhor Ghat in the rains,
and the walking fishes of our mud-flats and rock beaches, to say
nothing of the murrell and climbing perch. I, for one, have seen
young eels climbing over a wall at the Cutts of Coleraine, in Ireland,
with the help of a wet straw rope hung over it ad hoc. And I saw
Discognathus modestus walk up the sides of my bath tub, and out of
it, not quite as easily asa gecko lizard goes up a wall, but without
doubt or hesitation.
At Pachad, as may be gathered from the length of my remarks
on it; one usually makes a day’s or night’s halt, using a light
‘‘Kabul Pal” or a shelter (‘“‘ Mandwa’’) built on notice by the hill
villagers.
The upward path leads through a notch in the Raigarh ridge ;
between the fort on one side and a lower and narrower hill on the
other, which is, at its further or northern end, separated from the
fine line of Ghats by one of those tremendous notches so charac-
teristic of the Northern Sahyadri Range, which cut off from it almost
every so-called spur, north of our present point. But I am not
aware of any such notch to the Southward. The next great spur in
that direction, forming the Southern watershed of the Savitri basin,
is crossed by the great Konkan Road at a height (speaking from
memory) of about 1,300 feet, at the Kashede Pass, where it is
already many miles from the parent range.
At the end next our pass the hill now in question possesses a
“Hole in the Wall,” or rather two, being embrasures for two
guns opening westwards out of what was probably once a natural
cavern with its mouth east of the ridge, now called ‘“ Little
Gibraltar.” .
It is extremely exasperating, on reaching this point, to see that
one must descend almost as far as one has climbed from Pachad;
456 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
and then begin the real ascent of some 1,800 feet, through the
heavy band of evergreen forest already mentioned as growing on
the “talus” at the foot of the great scarp.
This point is called the ‘‘ Raja’s Garden,” very much, I fancy, as
a similar spot as Matheran is “‘ Ram’s garden.” There is not water
enough for any real gardening ; and no hardy imported plant has
naturalized itself, and survived, as commonly happens in hill forts
wherever there has been anything of the sort. Nor is there any
tree on the hill which can be supposed to have been even planted by
the founder. From the top, however, one can see in a pass, east
of the hill, a huge Kinjal tree (Zerminalia paniculata) under
which he may haveridden. I have here no note of its girth; nor
is there any legend about it, but looked full 300 years old, and the
Raja is only dead 212 years. In various spots round the foot of
Raigarh there are remains of gardens, with ruins in them which
tradition and reasonable probability connect with the fort. It was
natural that such places should grow up near the residence of a king
and nobles, with money to pay for fruit and flowers, anda natural
desire to come down out of the clouds at times.
On the top of the hill itself there can have been little of the sort.
Water is abundant now, in huge cisterns cut in the rock, some of
them undoubtedly the quarries whence came the building stone.
But the surface is mostly a sheet of basalt, thinly covered with an inch
or so of mould, and in very few places softening into a rock capable
of forming “‘muram.” Only one wild flower abounds there in the
fine weather ; and this, curiously enough, is that of a bush as hardy
a foot above high water mark as here at nearly 3,000 feet, (Vitex
Negundo) the “ Nirgude.”’ One tree has rooted itself in the heaps of
rubbish within the walls, and another in the cracks of the walls
themselves. The former, as with the flower, is a tree of the Plains;
and indeed of the neighbourhood of water, (Ficus Glomerata), the
“Umbar” or Guler. It is according to some shastras the right
wood of which to make a throne; but here it has turned the tables,
and occupies the actual ancient place of the throne, The other tree
is the Ashte or mountain Pipal. I do not know whether it has a
specific name, but I think it a good species, for it is exclusively of
parasitic habit, at all ages, (the commen pipal outgrows its hosts, or
OP ABIDE. 457
kills them, and stands alone), its dwarfish and shrubby habit, and
the brilliant red colour of its leaf buds.
Of living creatures there are few on the actual top of Raigarh.
The cisterns are said to hold centenarian fish of enormous size.
They certainly hold many small fry; loaches and highland carp
such as described above, preyed upon by two king fishers; Alcedo
Bengalensis and Halcyon Smyrnensis. The latter could have done
without the fish, for there were some spot-winged locusts here and
there, probably strays. No mammal was seen, nor the trace of
any, but in the rains a few cattle come up and nibble the scanty
grass. Liuizards of course were in their proper place on the walls of
departed glory, but then, lizards don’t wait for the glory to depart
before taking possession, in the East at least; and I daresay
Jamshid saw a good many more lizards on the walls “ where
Jamshid gloried and drank deep” than ever "Umar Khayyam did.
But if one descends from the pudding-shaped centre of the hill
to its scarped edge, one comes suddenly on a world of life in a rather
new aspect. The scarps of Raigarh furnish quarters to an immense
number of birds; chiefly of course Raptores ; and it is a strange
sight toa man from the plains to find himself suddenly looking
down upon the backs of vultures and eagles and falcons, and see
them flying in and out as it were under his feet. They don’t look
at all the same birds. Some, as Aquila Imperialis, are much more
easily distinguished from above than from below, because you can
see the markings of the back and tail better; and when they do rise
and pass over your head to see what you are doing on the roof of
their house they will give you a much better view of the breast and
under plumage than is often granted by living wild birds in the
plains—they feel at home and expect the intruder to be on his good
behaviour.
Of course few people ever do shoot from such a place, where the
odds would be incalculable against ever recovering a hit bird.
Many a shot has been fired at men from here; but the birds have
presumably never been molested. Even amongst themselves there
seems to be a sort of “truce of God” at breeding places. The
pigeons go in and out amongst the great and little Raptores ; and
I have seen the same in trees. Yet the birds are without the very
458 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
obvious reasons which induce the wise Fox to abstain from plunder
near his own earth, and even the tiger, (according to his neighbours),
to forage far abroad, on pain of denunciation to the “ Sahe bolk,”
which I have known to follow a breach of this tacit entente cordiale.
I have seen no region so rich in Hagles as that visible from the
heights of Raigarh. The wide plain of Mangaum to the North-
West, is a chosen haunt of the larger Serpent Hagle, Circacus
Gallicus ; and the Imperial Eagle hunts the low hills, covered with
scanty jungle and brushwood, which abound on its skirts. Where
there are large evergreen trees such as Mangos along the
numerous streams, you find the Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilornis
cheela, the most beautifully marked of our birds of prey when in
full feather. The first two prefer to perch on bare trees, Spilornis
likes a thick tree, and sits on a big limb, in good shade, but not
amongst the boughs and twigs, until startled ; when he goes straight
off, perhaps from over your head, a startling object if you have
not seen him, nor he you. I have shot one of these eagles in such a
position with a pistol, and wore his ocellated game-like feathers for
many a day, in “ jactance”’ over the feat.
This happened in thick forest, in the Sukeli pass, where he was, I
think, a little off his beat and out of his reckoning, though not
exclusively a bird of the open. The next, and the characteristic
eagle of the immediate neighbourhood of Raigarh, is the Crested
Hawk Eagle of Jerdon (Limnetus Cristatellus). The Latin name
is bad, as he does not frequent “ Zimnai”’; and I think Mr. Murray
calls him Cirrhetus, which is better. We must await Mr. Blan-
ford’s long-promised volume. I myself like to call this bird the
Wood-Eagle, as the forest is his especial domain. He can break
through the branches after prey with the rush of a charging beast,
and when he sees you walk up to one side of his tree, long before you
have distinguished his grey form from the surrounding boughs, he
has shifted his perch to the far side as easily as a green pigeon or
parrot would.
The Grey-backed Sea-Eagle comes up the estuaries to Mhad, but
I don’t think he often rises high enough above them to see the Hill
itself. The Osprey forages over the Kal to its very foot; and every-
where in the open are the Laggar (our particular falcon here), the
OF ACHIEE: 459
harriers, and the red-headed merlin, the bantam of our birds of prey.
Ihave not identified any of the hawks except these and the blue
harrier, because one must shoot them to do so, and I don’t like shooting
them. But it was near Raigarh that a guest of mine shot a Brah-*
mani kite (Hadiastwr) with a living garfish in its claws, which he
and I both saw it catch from the water, with the action of its big brother,
the Sea-Eagle. I think this to be the natural action of Hadiastur:
and that it only takes to carrion and garbage when corrupted by the
neighbourhood of man. I think I have mentioned before, in these
pages, having seen one attack and severely injure a hare, which it
would have killed, but for my own interference.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES, seine NATURAL
HISTORY NOTES FROM H. M. I. M. SURVEY
STEAMER “INVESTIGATOR,” CommanvEr
R. F. HOSKYN, R.N., COMMANDING.
Series II., No. 5. By D. Prain.
(Continued from page 295).
PHANEROGAMIA.
Thalamiflore.
ANONACER.
1. Awona muRicata Linn., Sp. Pl. 586; Watt, Dict., i., 208.
The Sour Sop.
Minikoi; only one tree, Mleming.
Native of America, cultivated in most tropical countries, though
rarely in India, except in the Madras Presidency, and even there
sparingly.
CAPPARIDEH.
- 2. Oleome viscosa Linn., Sp. Pl. 672; Roxb., Fl. Ind., ii.,
128; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 170.
Améni; Hwme! Anderut; Alcock! Akati; Fleming! Kiltan
Fleming !
A weed of cultivation almost cosmopolitan in the tropics.
BrxingEs#.
3. Bixa OreLtaANnA Linn., Sp. Pl. 512; Roxb., Fl. Ind., u., 581;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 190; Watt, Dict., 1.,.454. The Anatto ;
vernac. ‘ Potang.”
Améni; cultivated for its dye, ‘“‘several hundredweights of the
fruit are exported yearly to Malabar,” Robinson.
Native of America, generally cultivated throughout the tropics.
4. Flacourtia sepiaria Roxb., Corom. Pl.:i., 48, t. 68; Fl.
Ind., ii., 885, Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.,i., 194.
Kadamum; very common, Fleming !
Throughout Bengal, Peninsular India and Ceylon, in dry jungles ;
also in Java.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 461
PoLyYGALEm.
5. Polygala erioptera DC., Prodr., i., 326; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., i., 203.
Kadamum ; Fleming! The narrow-leaved form (P. Vahliana DC.)
is alone reported.
India, Burma, Beluchistan, Arabia, Africa.
PoRTULACES.
6. Portulaca oleracea Linn., Sp. Pl. 445; Roxb., Fl. Ind., ii.,
463; Hook, f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 246.
Minikoi; Fleming! Two very distinct forms are communicated:
one, the ordinary annual condition ; the other, a perennial state
with very large tuberous roots exactly like those of P. tuberosa,
Roxb., from which, however, it is at once distinguished by its
opposite flat leaves, and by the denser beard of white hairs on its
nodal appendages,
A weed of cultivated ground and waste places, cosmopolitan in
the tropics.
GUTTIFER.
7. Calophyllum inophyllum Linn., Sp. Pl. 513; Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., ii., 606; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 273; Watt, Dict.,
ii., 29. The Poon-Spar or Alexandrian Laurel.
Améni; planted, Hume! Kalpéni; apparently indigenous, Alcock !
Akati; planted, one tree only, Fleming! Minikoi; planted, but
also occurring as an indigenous tree in the coast-zone, Fleming !
Cultivated throughout India. Wild on the sea-coasts of the
Mascarene Islands; India, Ceylon, Andamans; Malaya, N. Australia
and Polynesia.
MALVACER.
8. Sida humilis Willd., Sp. Pl., iii., 744; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
i., 171; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 322.
Kadamum; Hume! Fleming! Akati; Fleming! Minikoi;
Fleming !
A field and road-side weed in tropical Asia, Africa and America.
9, Abutilon indicum G. Don: Mast. in Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind., 1., 326.
61
462 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
var. typica. A. tudicum G. Don; Gen. Syst.i., 504. Sida in-
dica Linn., Sp. Pl..(ed. 11.) 964; Roxb., Flor. Ind,, in., 179.
Minikoi; Fleming !
var. populifolia W. & A., Prodr. i., 56: A. populifolium
G. Don, Gen. Syst., 1, 503. Sida populifolia Lamk.,
Encycl. Meth.,.1., 7; Roxb., Flor. Indi, i., 179:
Kadamum; Hume! Fleming! Akati; Fleming! Minikoi;
Fleming !
Both varieties are widely dispersed in India, the second being
the more common in Western India. A weed of cultivation;
cosmopolitan in the tropics:
10: Urenasinwata: Linn., Sp; PI. 692; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii.,
182; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Indi, i., 329.
Kalpéni; Alcock !
A°weed of fields and roadsides; cosmopolitan in the tropics.
11. Hibiscus Solandra L’Herit., Stirp., i., 103; t. 49; Roxb’,
Flor. Ind., iii, 197; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 336:
Minikoi; common, Fleming !
A weed of fields and roadsides, confined to India, Ceylon and
tropical Hast Africa.
12. Hibiscus tiliaceus Linn., Sp. Pl. 694; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
iu., 192; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i,, 343.
Akati; Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming !
A littoral species, cosmopolitan on tropical sea-shores.
13, Husiscus Rosa-sineNsis Linn., Sp. Pl. 694; Roxb., Flor.
Ind., ii., 194; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. i., 344. The Shoe-
Flower.
Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming !
Cultivated in gardens throughout India; native of China.
14. Thespesia populnea Corr., Ann. Mus. Par. ix., 290; Hook.
f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1,344) Hibiscus populmeus Linn:, Sp. Pl. 694 ;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 190: The Portia Tree.
Anderut; planted, Alcock! Kiltan; indigenous, Fleming! Akati;
both indigenous and planted, Fleming! Kadamum; indigenous,
Fleming !
A littoral species, common. on all tropical sea-shores inthe Old
World and Polynesia; naturalised in the West Indies.
‘BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 465
15. Gossyrrum HERBACEUM Linn., Sp. Pl. 693; Roxb., Fl. Ind.
iii, 184; Hook. £., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 346; Watt, Dict., iv., 26.
Indian Cotton.
Anderut; cultivated, Wood. Minikoi; cultivated, /leming.
Cultivated throughout India, yielding the Indian cottons; native
of Old World.
16. GossyPIUM BARBADENSE Linn., Sp. Pl. 693 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
ii, 187; Hook., f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i, 847; Watt, Dict., iv.,: 15.
Barbadoes Cotton.
Anderut; cultivated, Wood. Minikoi; occurs pretty frequently
and grows well, Fleming !
Cultivated throughout India, yielding the American cottons;
native of New World.
TILIACER.
17. Corchorus acutangulus Lamk., Encycl. Meth., ii., 104 ;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 398. C. fuscus, Roxb., F). Ind., ii., 582.
Kadamum ; Fleming! Akati; Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming !
A weed of cultivation, cosmopolitan in the tropics.
Disciflore.
RUTACER.
18. Triphasia trifoliata DC., Prodr., i., 536; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., i., 507.
Minikoi ; Fleming! Not found in gardens, but perhaps originally
introduced.
Common in gardens, and as an escape, in many tropical countries ;
the native country doubtful. The writer has collected this, with
all the appearance of being indigenous, in Car Nicobar, It has not,
however, been obtained in any locality where the evidence that it is
indigenous is unequivocal.
19. Murrava Korntar Spreng. Syst. Veg., 11... 315; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., i. 503; Watt, Dict., v., 288. \ Bergera Koenigii
Linn., Mantiss., ii., App. 563; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 375.
Minikoi; carefully cultivated, Fleming !
20. Crrrus mepica Linn.:;Brandis, For. Flora, 52.
var. acida Brandis: Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind., i., 515 ;
Watt, Dict., ii., 355, C. aeida, Roxb., Flor, Ind., iii.,
390. The Sour Lime of India,
464 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Améni,; cultivated, ‘‘ trees numerous, quality good,’ Robinson ;
Hume. Anderut; cultivated, Wood. Kiltén ; cultivated, but does not
thrive, Robinson. Minikoi,; cultivated pretty frequently, Fleming !
Probably a native of India; generally cultivated in the tropics.
21. Crrrus Avrantium Linn., Sp, Pl. 782; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii.,
392; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 515; Watt, Dict., ii., 335. The
Sweet Orange.
Anderut, cultivated, Wood.
Probably a native of India; cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical
countries.
22. Citrus pecumaNna Linn., Syst. Nat. (ed. xii.), 1., 580;
Roxb., Flor. Ind. i., 393; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 516; Watt,
Dict., i1., 348. The Shaddock or Pomelo.
Minikoi; cultivated, only one tree on the island, Fleming.
Native of Malaya and Polynesia, generally cultivated in S.-H. Asia.
23. SAXate Marmetos Corr., Trans. Linn. Soc., v., 222; Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., 11.,579; Hook. f,, Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 516; Watt, Dict., 1.,
117. The Bael.
Minikoi; Fleming !
Cultivated and wild throughout India.
SIMARUBER.
24, Suriana maritima Linn,, Sp. Pl. 284; Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Eads, O22.
Bitrapar; Hume! Fleming! Bangaro; Hume! Kadamum;
Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming /
Cosmopolitan on tropical sea-shores.
CELASTRINER.
25, Pleurostylia Wightii W.& A., Prodr. 157; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 617. Celastrus opposita Wall. in Roxb., Flor.
Ind. (ed. Carey), ii., 398.
Kadamum ; very common throughout the island, Fleming !
Mascarene Islands; Malabar, Ceylon.
RHAMNER.
26. Colubrina asiatica Brogn., Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. i, x.,
369; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 642. Ceanothus asiaticus Linn.,
Sp. Pl. 196; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 615.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 465
Akati; Mleming! Kiltaén; Fleming !
Littoral species common on sea-coasts of S. Africa, the Mascarene
Islands; India, Ceylon; the Malay Archipelago and Australia.
AMPELIDER.
27. Vitis quadrangularis Wall., Cat. n. 5992; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 645. Cissus quadrangularis, Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
1., 407.
Kalpéni; Alcock !
Hast Africa; India, Malaya; common on the sea-shores of the
Andaman group, where it is unequivocally indigenous. Lawson
(Flor. Brit. Ind. 1. c.) states that the stems are eaten in curries in
Ceylon. He does not quote any authority, the statement is certainly
not derived from Thwaites, who says (Hmm Pl. Zeylan., 62) that
the stems are used medicinally. The species is not cultivated in
Kalpéni; it is most probably a bird-introduced species.
28. Vitis carnosa Wall., Cat. n. 6018; Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind., i., 654. Cissus carnosa, Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1., 409.
Kiltén; Alcock! Fleming !
India and Malay Peninsula ; probably a bird-introduced species.
Though both Dr. Alcock and Mr. Fleming found it growing
profusely, Mr. Hume did not meet with it ; perhaps, therefore, it is
a recent introduction, possibly during the interval between 1875
and 1889.
SAPINDACER.
29. Cardiospermum MHalicacabum Linn., Sp. Pl. 366;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 292 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 670.
Améni; Hume! Kalpéni; Alcock !
A weed of road-sides and waste places, cosmopolitan in the
tropics.
30. Allophylus Cobbe Blume, Rumphia, iii,, 131; Hook. f,,
Flor, Brit. Ind., i., 673. Ornithotrope Cobbe Willd., Sp. Pl., i1.,
392 ; Roxb., Fl. Ind. ii., 268. Rhus Cobbe Linn., Sp. Pl. 267,
Minikoi ; leming !
A littoral or sub-littoral species distributed thronghout S.-E. Asia
and N. Australia, but almost certainly a bird-introduced, not a
sea-introduced, species.
466 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
ANACARDIACER.
31. Maneirera inpica Linn., Sp. Pl.-200;)Roxb., Fl. Ind. i.,
641; Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind. 1i., 18; Watt, Dict., v., 146. The
Mango.
Minikoi; cultivated, only one tree, Fleming.
Cultivated throughout the tropics ; native of S.-E. Asia.
MorINGER.
32. Moringa PrERYGOsPERMA Gaertn., Fruct., ii., 314, t. 147,
f, 2; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.,.11.,.45; Watt, Dict.,°v., .276.
Hyperanthera Moringa Vahl., Symb.,1.,:30; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,i1., 368.
Guilandina Moringa Linn., Sp. Pl. 881. The Horse-Radish Tree.
Améni; commonly cultivated: Kiltén; occasionally cultivated,
Hume.
Cultivated generally throughout the tropics ; native of the lower
slopes of the North-Western Himalaya.
Calyciflore.
LEe@UMINOS #.
33. Crotalaria retusa Linn., Sp. Pl. 715; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
iii., 272 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii, 75,
Akati ; Fleming !
A common weed or escape from cultivation in the tropics, only
donbtfully wild in Africa or America.
34. QOrotalaria verrucosa Linn., Sp. Pl. 75; Roxb., Flor.
Inds, ane, 273; Hook, Hors arit. Ind. a5 877.
Améni; Hume! Kadamum ; Fleming !
A cosmopolitan tropical weed.
35. Indigofera cordifolia Heyne in‘Roth., Nov. Sp., 357;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. 1., 98.
Kiltén; Fleming! Kadamum ; Ileming /
India, Afghanistan, N.-H. Africa, Malaya,'N. Australia. A weed
of waste places and fields.
36. Indigofera tinctoria Linn., Sp. Pl. 751; Roxb., Flor.
Ind., iii., 379; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 99; Watt, : Dict.)av.,
387. The Indigo Plant.
Kadamum; whole fields of this species’ growing 1in.a. wild: state,
Hume! Fleming ! Akati; Fleming /
BOTANY OF THE. LACCADIVES. | 467
Cultivated universally throughout India. Here not cultivated,
though perhaps: originally intentionally. introduced, Native of
India, but not known truly wild, except in this and similar localities,
where it cannot possibly be “ indigenous.”
37. Tephrosia: tenuis Wall., Cat. n. 5970; Hook. £.,. Flor.
Brim, Ind: 17, LI:
Kadamum,; Fleming! Akati; Fleming /
A-weed of cultivation hitherto known only from Scinde,. Panjab,
and Concan.
38. Tephrosia purpurea Pers. : Baker in Hook. f., Flor, Brit.
ind, 1. 113.
var. pumila Baker. ‘J’. pumila Pers., Synops., ii., 330. 7’.
diffusa W. & As, Prodr. 213. Galega diffusa Roxb.,
Flor. Ind.,.iii., 387.
Kadamum; Fleming! Kailtan; Fleming !
A. cosmopolitan tropical weed; very distinct from typical
T. purpurea, and never exhibiting any intermediate states ; probably
quite deserving specific rank.
39. Sesbania aculeata Pers., Re, iL, 316; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind,, ii., 114. Corontlla aculeata Willd., Sp. Pl., iii., 1147.
Aischynomene spinulosa. Roxb., Flor. Ind., ui., 333.
Kalpéni ; Alcock !
A weed of wet places and rice-fields throughout the tropics of
the Hastern Hemisphere.
40. SESBANIA GRANDIFLORA. Pers., Synops., il., 816; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 115. Sesban grandiflorus, Poir., Encycl. Meth.,
vii., 127. Afschynomene grandiflora Linn., Sp. Pl, (ed. 11.), 1050;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 331. Agati grandiflora. Desv., Jour. Bot., iii.,
120. The Agate T’ree. :
Kiltén; Kadamum; Akati; Minikoi; in all four islands planted
as a support for the Pepper-vines which the people cultivate
carefully, Fleming.
Mauritius; India and Ceylon; Malaya, N. Australia; generally,
if not always, planted in India, and usually (especially in South
India) grown for the purpose for which the tree is used in
these: islands (Low)., Fl. Ind., iii, 332). Native apparently of
Malaya.
468. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
41, Aracuis HypocA Linn., Sp. Pl. 741; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
ii., 280; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 161; Watt, Dict., i., 282.
The Ground-Nut.
Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming !
A native of America, cultivated largely in Southern India, more
rarely in other parts.
42. Desmodium triflorum DC., Prodr., u., 334; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 173. Hedysarwm triflorum Linn,, Sp. Pl. 749 ;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 353.
Akati; Fleming! Kadamum; Fleming! Kiltan; Fleming!
Minikoi; Fleming !
A cosmopolitan tropical weed.
43. Currorta Ternatea Linn., Sp. Pl. 753; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
iii., 821 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 208; Watt, Dict., i1., 375.
Ameéni; cultivated, Hume.
In gardens, or as an escape, throughout the tropics; not in
Australia.
Ad. Mucuna capirata W. & A., Prodr., 255; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., ii., 187. Carpopogon capitatum Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 284.
Améni; in gardens, “‘many plants * * * with bunches of
deep blackish purple flowers, looking like Hamburg grapes,” Hume!
India and Java; perhaps only a cultivated form of the common
Cowhage (Mucuna pruriens DC.)
45. Ganavalia turgida Grah. in Wall., Cat.n. 5534 A.; Miq.,
Flor. Ind. Bat.,i., 215. C. enstformis var. turgida Baker in Hook.
f,, Flor. Brit. Ind., i1., 196. Dolichos rotundtfolius Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
iii, 302. Rheede, Hort. Malabar., viii., t. 43. Probably=C. obtusz-
folia DC., Prodr., 11., 404.
Minikoi; very common, a climber on the Pandanus sea-fence,
Fleming !
Littoral species ; coasts of Bengal, Burma, Andamans and Nico-
bars, Malay Peninsula and Java (Miquel). Also Coromandel Coast,
‘on islands at mouth of Godaveri river,” (Roxburgh); and Malabar
Coast, “‘ locis arenosis’’ Cochin (Eheede) .
Roxburgh’s and Rheede’s plant is, without doubt, from the
former writer’s account and the latter’s figure of the ‘ semi-
elliptic” (Roxburgh), turgid pod, the same as Graham’s Wallichian
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 469
plant from Penang, yet Mr. Baker places the Indian plant in
C. obtustfolia and regards the Penang one as a variety of
C. ensiformis,
It is therefore better in the meantime to consider C. turgida
Grah. to bea plant specifically distinct from C. virosa (the wild form
of C. ensiformis), as well as from C. obtusifolia.
46. Canavalia obtusifolia DC.: Baker in Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., u., 196 (syn. Dolichos rotundifolius Roxb. excl.);
Clegh., Madr. Journ. (n.s.),i., t. 4. Dolichos obcordatus Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., i1., 303. Probably=C. lineata DC., Prodr., ii., 404.
Minikoi; on sandy beach, Fleming !
A littoral species cosmopolitan on tropical shores.
It is interesting to find on the same island examples of both these
sea-coast Canavalias. The specimens of C. turgida are both in
flower and with fruit, those of C’. obtusifolia are in flower only, but
are exactly like the Madras ones (in Herb. Calcutta) of Wallich
(Cat. n. 5532), of Wight and of Gamble. They are well dis-
tinguished, as Mr. Baker indicates, by the racemes in C. obtustfolia
being much the fewer-flowered of the two. But the accuracy of
the nomenclature is extremely doubtful, for Canavalia obtusifolia
DC. (Prodr,, i1., 404) is the exact equivalent of Dolichos obtusifolius
Lamk., (Dict., .. 295), which in turn is, according to Lamarck
himself, the plant figured by Rheede (Hort. Malabar., viii., t. 43).
It is moreover the equivalent of Dolichos rotundifolius, Vahl (Symb.
ii., 81), of which plant De Candolle himself saw a fruiting specimen.
Roxburgh identified the plant described by Vahl with that figured
by Rheede. It seems therefore clear that Rheede’s Katu-Tsjandi,
Lamarck’s Dolichos obtustfoliws, Vahl’s and Roxburgh’s Dolichos
rotundtfolius, De Candolle’s Canavalia obtusifolia and Graham’s
Canavalia turgida are one and the same sea-coast species, which
species is entitled to the name Canavalia obtusifolia. On the other
hand, it seems clear from the specimens in Calcutta Herbarium that
the plant common on the Madras coast figured by Cleghorn, and
the Chinese plant cultivated in the Calcutta Botanic Garden de-
scribed and figured (Icon. Ined., xx., 186) by Roxburgh as Dolichos
obcordatus, are specifically identical; their pods, as figured by
Roxburghand Cleghorn, agree well with the pods of Canavalia lineata
62
470 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
DC. (Dolichos lineatus Thunb.) from the sea-coast of Japan as de-
scribed by De Candolle (DC., Prodr., 11., 404) and Thunberg (Flor.
Japon., 280) and as figured by Iinuma Yokusai (SOmoko-Dusets,
ed, ii., vol. xiii, t. 20); the species might therefore be best known
as Canavalia lineata. The name “ obtusifolia” is more appropriate
to C. lineata as here understood than to the true C. obtuszfolia of
Rheede’s figure. In this respect, however, both species are variable,
for the leaves of the Japanese plant (Doliches lineatus Thbg.) are
quite like those of the Penang one (Canavalia turgida Grah.) and
of that figured by Rheede, though its pods are quite lke those of
the emarginate-leaved Chinese plant (Dolichos obcordatus Roxb.)
and of the rounded or emarginate-leaved Madras plant (Canavaha
obtusifolia Baker, not DC.)
47. Phaseolus calcaratus Roxb., Hort. Beng. 54; Flor. Ind.,
iii., 289; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 11., 203.
Minikoi ; an escape, Fleming !
India and Malaya, wild and commonly cultivated.
48. Vigna lutea A. Gray in Bot. Wilkes’ Hxped., 1., 452;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 1., 205. Dolichos luteus Swartz, Flor.
Ind. Occ., iti., 1246.
Minikoi ; very common on the beach; Fleming /
A littoral species, cosmopolitan in the tropics ; not reported from
any of the Indian coasts; very abundant in the Andamans.
49. Viena Catsane Endl. ew. Mig., Flor, Ind. Bat., i., 188; Hook.
f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 205. Dolichos Catjang Linn., Mantiss. 259 ;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 8303. Vernac. * Loba.”’
Améni; cultivated, Robinson. Kadamum; cultivated, Robinson.
Generally cultivated throughout the tropics of the old world; a
native of India. Itis interesting to observe that it is under the
Arabic name of loba (lubia, Forsk.), and not under an Indian name
that it is known to the inhabitants.
50. Cesalpinia Bonducella Flem., Asiat. Res., xi., 159;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 357; Hook. f., Flor, Brit. Ind., ii., 254.
Guilandina Bonducella Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. 1.,) 545. G. Bonduc
Linn., Sp. Pl. 381 (pro parte).
Bangaro ; forming adense low jungle, Hume! Akati; only one plant
met with, Fleming! Kadamum ; only one specimen seen, Fleming /
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 471
A littoral species, cosmopolitan in the tropics.
51. Cassia occidentalis Linn., Sp. Pl. 377; Hook. f., Flor.
- Brit. Ind., ti., 262. Senna occidentalis Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 348.
Akati; Fleming !
A cosmopolitan tropical weed.
52. Cassia Tora Linn., Sp. Pl. 376; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.,
u., 263. Senna Tora Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1i., 340.
Kalpéni; Alcock! Kadamum; Fleming! Akati; Fleming !
Kaltén ; Fleming !
A tropical road-side weed, almost cosmopolitan (absent from
Polynesia).
53. Tamagrinpus rnpica Linn., Sp. Pl. 34; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii.,
215; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 273. The Tamarind.
Ameni; cultivated, Hume. Akati; cultivated, Fleming,
CoMBRETACER,
54. Terminalia Catappa Linn., Mantiss., i., 128; Roxb.,
Flor, Ind., u., 430; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 444. The
Country Almond.
Minikoi; both planted and indigenous; ‘the island abounds
with this tree, its wood being put to various uses,” Fleming.
A littoral species, extremely abundant in the Andamans and
Nicobars as well as on all Malayan shores. Though now growing
wild in Minikoi, this species has probably been originally introduced
intentionally. It is not known wild in India.
Myrraces.
55. Psrprum Guasava Linn., Sp. Pl. 470; Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind., ii, 468. Psidium pyriferum Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii.,) 672;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 480. Psidiwm pomiferwm Linn., Sp. PI.
(ed. ii.,) 672; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 11., 480. The Guava.
Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming.
Native of Mexico, cultivated and often “wild” and quite
naturalized in India and other tropical countries.
56. KEvarnta Jampos Linn., Sp. Pl. 470; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii,
494; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 474; Watt, Dict., iii., 287. The
Rose-A pple.
Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming !
472 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Cultivated throughout India, Malaya and North Australia ; native
of the warmer Hastern Himalaya.
57. Eucrenra JAMBOLANA Lamk., Encyc. Meth., in., 198; Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., ii, 484; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 499; Watt,
Dict., ii., 284, The Black Plum. :
Minikoi; cultivated, Mleming !
Cultivated or wild throughout India and Malaya.
LYTHRACEH. ’
58. Ammania baccifera Linn., Sp. Pl. 120; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., ii., 569. A vesicatoria Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 426.
Kalpéni; Alcock !
A marsh weed, common throughout the tropics of Asia and.
Australia. The leaves are used as a vesicant in native medicine.
59, Lawsonta atBa Lamk., IIl., t., 296, f 2; Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind., ii., 573; Watt, Dict., iv., 597. L. inermis Linn., Sp. Pl. 349;
Racin Flor. Ind., ii., 258. LZ. spinosa Linn., Sp. Pl. 349. The
Mendi or Indian Privet; Henna Plant.
Minikoi; Fleming /
A favourite hedge-plant in Indian gardens; wild in Western
India, Afghanistan and Persia.
60. Puntca Granatum Linn., Sp, Pl. 472; Roxb., Flor. Ind., u.,
409; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 581. The Pomegranate.
Ameni; cultivated, Hume. Akati; about half a dozen plants
bearing good fruit, Fleming. Minikoi; generally cultivated, Fleming.
Native of Afghanistan, Scinde and Persia; sar cultivated
throughout the tropics.
PASssIFLOREZ.
61. Carica Papaya Linn., Sp. Pl. 1036; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 11.,
824; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind, 11., 599. The Papaw.
Kiltan ; cultivated, Hume; Fleming. Anderut; cultivated, Wood ;
Alcock. Akati; cultivated, Fleming. Kadamum ; cultivated,
Fleming. Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming,
Native of America, generally cultivated throughout the tropics;
now perfectly naturalised in various parts of India.
CucURBITACEA.
62. Lurra meyprraca Mill, ee Hook. f. in Oliv., Fl. Trop. Afr.,
ii., 5380; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 614; Watt, Dict., v. 96, L.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 4'73
pentandra Roxb,, Flor, Ind., iii., 712. L. racemosa Roxb., FI. Ind.,
ii, 715. L. clavata Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 714. Momordica Iuffa
Linn., Sp. Pl. 1009.
Minikoi ; cultivated, Fleming /
Generally cultivated throughout the tropics.
63. Momorpica CuHarantiaA Linn., Sp. Pl. 1009; Roxb., Flor.
Ind., ii., 707; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 616 ; Watt, Dict., v., 256.
Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming !
Cultivated in tropical Africa and throughout 8. E. Asia.
64. Cucumis Mesto Linn., Sp. Pl. 1011; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii.,
720; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 11., 620; Watt, Dict., ii., 627: C.
utilissemus Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 721. The Sweet Melon.
Kadamum; growing “ wild” round the village, Fleming ! Kiltan ;
cultivated only, Mleming! Akati; cultivated, Fleming! Minikoi,
frequent, Fleming !
Cultivated throughout the tropics.
65. Cucumis sattvus Linn., Sp. Pl. 1012; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii,
20; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 620; Watt, Dict., ii, 682. The
Cucumber.
Kiltén; “found growing wild, only one creeper seen,” Fleming /
Cultivated throughout India, as it is in all tropical and temperate
countries ; here palpably an escape from cultivation.
66. Cephalandra indica Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. v., v., 16:
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 621. Momordica monadelpha Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., ii., 708.
Akati; Fleming !
A very common creeper in hedges throughout Africa, India and
Malaya; here most probably a species introduced by birds.
67. Cucurpira maxima Duchesne in Lamk., Encye. Meth., ii., 151 ;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind., u., 622; Watt, Dict., ii., 688. The
Common Gourd.
Minikoi; cultivated and also growing “wild,” Fleming !
Cultivated in all warm countries.
FIcOIDEZ.
68. Sesuvium Portulacastrum Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii.,) 684
Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 509; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i, 659.
Portulaca Portulacastrum Linn., Sp. Pl. 446.
474. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Minikoi; Fleming !
A littoral species, cosmopolitan on tropical and sub-tropical
shores.
Corollifiore.
RUBIACEX.
69. Dentella repens Forst., Charact. Gen. 26, t. 13; Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., i., 582; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 42. Oldenlandia
repens Linn., Mantiss. 40.
Anderut ; Alcock !
A weed of moist places throughout tropical Asia, Australia and
Polynesia.
70. Oldenlandia corymbosa, Linn. ea Hiern im Oliv., Flor.
Trop. Afric., ii., 62; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., in., 64. O. baflora
Lamk., Encyc. Meth., iv., 553, nec Linn.; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1., 423.
O. ramosa Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 424.
Kalpéni; Alcock! Kadamum; Fleming ! Kiltan; Fleming !
A weed of waste places and fields throughout tropical Asia,
Africa and America.
71. Oldenlandia diffusa Roxb., Hort. Beng. 11; Flor. Ind.,
i., 423 ; Hook, f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i, 65.
Anderut; Alcock! Minikoi; Flemang !
A tropical and sub-tropical weed of cultivation in Hastern and
South-Hastern Asia.
72. OQOldenlandia biflora Linn., Sp. Pl. 119; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iii., 70.
Kalpéni; Alcock ! Kadamum ; Fleming !
A weed of cultivation confined to Southern India and Ceylon.
The Laccadive specimens agree exactly with those of Wight
(Herb. Wight n. 1876, Kew Distrib.).
73. Guettarda speciosa Linn., Sp. Pl. 991 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
i, 686; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 126. Nyctanthes hirsuta
Lint op. 21ers;
Kadamum ; Hume! Fleming !
A littoral species ; found on all tropical shores.
74. Ixora cocctngA Linn., Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., 11., 145.
var. Bandhuca Roxb. (sp.). JL. Bandhuca Roxb., Flor.
Ind., i., 376.
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVBES. 475
Kadamum ; interspersed with the patches of wild indigo, Hume /
Anderut, perhaps cultivated, Alcock. Kalpéni; at edges of patches
of cultivation and probably planted, Alcock ! Minikoi; Fleming !
This form of I. coccinea is apparently a native of Southern
India. It is common in native gardens throughout India and
Ceylon: the bark of the root possesses valuable antidysenteric
properties.
75. Pavetta indica Linn., Sp. Pl. 110; Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind., ii, 150. Ixvora paniculata Lamk., Encyc. Meth., iii., 344.
Ixora Pavetta Roxb., Flor. Ind.,1., 385.
Kadamum; plentiful inshore, /leming !
South-Eastern Asia; throughout India and Indo-China, and
extending from S. China to N. Australia. .
76. Morinda citrifolia Linn., Hook.f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iii., 155.
var. bracteata Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind, iii., 156. M. bracteata
Roxb., Hort. Beng. 15; Flor. Ind., i., 544.
Bangaéro; Hume! Kalpéni; certainly wild, Alcock! Kiltdn;
Fleming! Akati; Fleming ! Kadamum; Fleming! Minikoi; extre-
mely plentiful throughout the island, Fleming !
A purely littoral plant, plentiful on all the Indian, Indo-Chinese,
Andamans and Nicobars coasts visited by the writer. Here, as else-
where, in the region where the plant occurs, it is truly wild, and has
doubtless been introduced by the sea; it appears to be equally
common also on the coasts of the Seychelleislands, This form, which
if may be perhaps more convenient to consider, with Roxburgh, a
species apart from M. cétrifolia, is never cultivated in India except
(e.g-, in the Calcutta Botanic Garden) as a curiosity; in Ceylon,
according to Thwaites, it is both wild and cultivated, and from Mr.
Fleming’s note this would seem to be the case in Minikoi. In
Bangaro it must of necessity be just as wild as it is in the Andamans
and Nicobars where, even in uninhabited islands, it is not merely,
as Kurz has said, ‘‘not infrequent,” but is in reality one of the
chief components of the beach-forest undergrowth behind the
sea-fence of Pandanus bushes; sometimes it is common farther
inshore.
This variety—or species—is confined to India, Indo-China and
Malaya, not reaching Polynesia or Australia,
476 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1893.
Composit.
77. Vernonia cinerea Less. in Linnea, iv., 291, et vi., 678;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i1., 233. Serratula cinerea Roxb., Hort.
Beng. 60; Flor. Ind., ii., 406. Conyza cimerea Linn., Sp. Pl.
862.
Améni; Hume! Anderut; Alcock! Kiltan; Fleming / Kadamun;
Fleming / Akati; Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming !
A cosmopolitan weed of waste places and fields.
78. Adenostemma viscosum Forst., Nov. Gen. n. 15.; Clarke,
Comp. Ind. 28; Hook f., Flor. Brit. Ind, iii. 242. Ageratum
aquaticum Roxb., Hort. Beng. 61; Flor. Ind., iu., 416.
Kalpéni; Alcock / Minikoi; Fleming /
A cosmopolitan tropical weed of fields and waysides which also
not infrequently occurs on sea-shores growing among the ocean
drift at high tide-mark, thus suggesting the possibility of introduc-
tion by the sea. The specimens from Kalpéni are probably referable
to Clarke’s variety reticulata (Adenostemma reticulatum DC. m
Wight, Contrib, 8); they have ovate leaves (the largest being
9-11 in. long and 34-4 in. across), reticulate; the achenes are
elongate and sparsely warted. This variety is characteristic of
South India and Ceylon. The Minikoi specimen has no leaves, but
the achenes are precisely like those in the Kalpéni specimens.
79. Ageratum conyzoides Linn., Sp. Pl. 889; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iii., 243, A. cordifoliwm Roxb., Flor. Ind., iu., 415.
Améni; Hume! Anderut; Alcock! Kalpéni; Alcock! Kiltan ;
Fleming! Minikoi; very plentiful, Fleming /
A weed of cultivation, originally American, but now cosmopolitan
in the tropics. Though so common in the Archipelago, it is not
recorded from any of the uninhabited islands which would indicate
that its wide and rapid dispersal is due altogether to unintentional
human action.
80. Blumea laciniata DC., Prodr., v., 486; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iii., 264. Conyza laciniata Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 427.
Kiltan; Fleming ! Akati; Fleming !
A weed of waste places distributed throughout 8S. H. Asia.
81. Eclipta alba Hassk. in Migq., Flor. Ind. Bat., 1i., 65; Clarke,
Comp. Ind. 184; Hook. f£., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 304. H. prostrata
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. ATT
Iinn., Mantiss. 266; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 488. Verbesing
Lavenia-alba Linn., Sp. Pl. 902.
Kadamum; Fleming! Kiltan ; Fleming !
A cosmopolitan tropical weed.
82. Wedelia calendulacea Less., Syn. 222; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iii., 306. Verbesina calendulacea Linn., Sp. Pl. 902;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 440.
Anderut; in the excavated cultivation areas, Alcock !
A weed of wet places, widely distributed throughout §.-E. Asia.
83. Wedelia scandens C. B. Clarke, Comp. Ind., 136. W.
bifora Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iii., 306; Prain, Laccadive List,
5. Verbesina scandens Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 441. Wollastonia
msularts DO., Prodr., v., 548. W. Horsfieldiana Mig., Flor. Ind.
Dabs, i1., 72.
Kadamum ; Hume! “the island abounds with this creeper,”
Fleming! Anderut; Alcock! Kailtén; Fleming! Minikoi; very
common, Fleming !
A purely littoral species, distributed throughout all the coasts of
S.-H. Asia. For the correction of the error in his former list, the
writer is indebted to the kindness of Mr. C. B. Clarke, r.r.s.
84. Bidens pilosa Linn., Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iii, 309.
var. bipinnata Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iii, 309. B.
bipinnata Linu., Sp. Pl. 832; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 411.
Kadamum ; Fleming !
A cosmopolitan tropical and sub-tropical weed.
85. Crepis acaulis Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind., iii., 396. Pre
nanthes acaulis Roxb., Flor. Ind., i1., 403.
Kiltan; Alcock!
A tropical weed, common throughout India and Burma; not
reported hitherto from Ceylon.
86. Launea pinnatifida Cass. in Ann. Sc. Nat., xxi., 85; Hook.
f., Flor. Brit. Ind., ii., 416. Prenanthes asplenifolia Roxb., Flor.
Ind., iii., 404 in parte, vix Willd.
Bitrapar; Hume! Fleming! Kadamum ; Fleming ! Minikoi; very
plentiful, Fleming !
A littoral species, common on the shores of India, the Mascarene
Islands and Hast Africa.
63
478 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HiSTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
GoopENOVIER.
87. Scaevola Koenigii Vahl, Symb., i., 36; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iui., 421. S.Zaceada Roxb., Hort. Beng. 15; Flor. Ind.,i.,
527. Lobelia Taccada Gaertn., Fruct.,i., 119, t. 25. Lobelia fru-
tescens Linn., Fl. Heyl. 148.
Bitrapar; very abundant, Hume! Fleming! Kadamum; abund-
ant on the shore, Fleming! Kiltén; in a dense hedge along the
entire lagoon face of the island, Hume, Alcock! Fleming! Akati;
Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming /
A littoral species common on the shores of 8.-H. Asia, N. Austra-
lia and Polynesia; also in the Mascarene Islands and Africa.
PLUMBAGINE®.
88. Plumbago zeylanica Linn., Sp. Pl. 151; Roxb., Flor.
Ind., i., 462; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., i., 480.
Améni; perhaps an escape from Saevion, Hume !
Cultivated throughout the tropics of the old world, readily escap-
ing and spreading : wild in Southern Asia.
APOCYNER.
89. Ochrosia borbonica Gmel., Syst. Veg. 439; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., i1., 638. .
Minikoi ; Fleming /
A littoral species distributed from the Mascarene Islands to
Ceylon, the Andamans, Nicobars and Malaya; not reported from
Indian coasts.
ASCLEPIADER.
90. Calotropis gigantea R. Br. in Ait., Hort. Kew. (ed. 11.), 11.,
78; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 17; Watt, Dict., i1., 34. Asele-
pias gigantea Willd., Sp. Pl., i., 1264; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 11, 30.
The Mudar.
Kadamum; Hume! very common in the centre of the island near
the huts, Pisnane !
A weedy shrub of waysides and waste places throughout Sota
Hastern Asia. It is remarkable that it should be present only in one
of the islands, and that it should occur only in the neighbourhood of
the people’s dwellings; these facts appear to indicate that the intro-
duction of the plant has been here due to human agency, end has,
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 479
moreover, been deliberate. The milky juice of this plant is employed
in native medicine, and it yields a fibre largely used in making
fishing-lines,
91. Tylophora asthmatica W. & A., Contrib. 51; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 44. Asclepias asthmatica Willd, Sp.3 Pk
1270; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii., 33,
Kadamum; Hume! Fleming! Anderut; Alcock ! Kiltén ; plenti-
ful along the shore, Fleming! Akati; Fleming !
y ly
A common weed throughout South-Hastern Asia. Its juice, like
that of the preceding species, is used in medicine ; its presence in so
many of the islands, however, as well as its habitat indicate that
introduction has not here been deliberate; though found on the
shore, itis probably to the wind and not to the sea that its introduc-
tion is due.
92. Leptadenia reticulata W. & A., Contrib. 47; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 638. Oynanchum reticulatum Willd., Sp. bly ks
1258. C. alatum Prain, Laccad. List 5, nec W. & A. Asclepias
suberosa Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1i., 38.
Kaltan; Alcock! Kadamum; Fleming !
A roadside weed and climber in dry jungles throughout India,
Barma, Malayaand Ceylon. The Kiltén specimens were erroneously
referred to Cynanchun in the former Laccadive List.
BoraGINnEe®.
93. Tournefortia argentea Linn. f., Suppl. 1383; Roxb., Flor.
Ind. (ed. Carey & Wall.), 11.,4; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 145.
Bitrapar; very abundant, Hume! Fleming! Kiltaén; Alcock!
Akati; only seedlings found germinating on the shore, Fleming /
Kadamum ; Fleming ! Minikoi; Fleming !
A littoral species extending from Africa and the Mascarene
Islands to Ceylon, the Andamans, Malaya and Australia.
CoNVOLYULACER.
94. Ipomea grandiflora Lamk., Ill., i.,t. 467; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iv., 198. Convolvulus grandiflorus Linn. f., Suppl. 136.
The Coasé Moon-jlower.
Bitrapar; densely draped over the clumps of Scaevola and Tour-
nefortia, Hume! Fleming! Kadamum; plentiful, Fleming /
480 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
A littoral species extending from Hastern Africa and the Masca-
rene Islands throughout South-Hastern Asia, and thence to North
Australia and Polynesia. This species occurs in America as a
cultivated plant only. Ipomea grandiflora Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1.,
497, is not this species, but a form of Ipomea Bona-nox, the true
‘¢ Moon-flower,” originally introduced from America.
95. Ipom@a Batratas: Lamk., Hncyc. Meth., vi., 14; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind.,iv., 202; Watt, Dict., iv., 478. Convolvulus Batatas
Linn., Sp. Pl. 154; Roxb,, Flor. Ind., 1., 483. The Sweet-potato.
Améni: cultivated, Robinson ; Hume. Anderut ; cultivated, Alcock ;
“of very inferior quality,’’ Wood. Akati; cultivated, ‘“ only one
small plot,” Fleming !
96. Ipomoea denticulata Choisy in DC., Prodr., ix. 379 ;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 208.
Minikoi; Fleming /
A littoral species extending from the Mascarene Islands to Ceylon,
the Andamans, Nicobars, Malaya and Burma (extending as far north
as Akyab onthe coast of Arracan), thence to North Australia and
Polynesia, but, like Ochrosta borbonica and Towrnefortia argentea, not
as yet reported from the coasts of the Indian mainland.
97. Ipomea biloba Forsk., Flor. Aeg. Arab. 44; Hook. f.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 212. JI. Pes-Capre Roth., Nov. Sp. 109. Con-
volvulus Pes-Capre Linn., Sp. Pl. 159; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1.,
486.
Bitrapar; plentiful, Hume / Fleming / Kalpéni, Alcock! Akati; on
shore and also solitary plants in interior, Fleming / Kadamum; only
on shore and not very common, Fleming / Minikoi; Fleming ! ;
A littoral species, cosmopolitan on tropical sea-shores.
98. Ipomea sinuata Ortega, Dec. 84; Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind., iv., 214. Convolvwlus dissectus Linn., Mantiss. 204.
Minikoi; Fleming /
Native of America, now widely spread in the Old World: here
growing quite wild.
99,. Convolvulus parviflorus Vahl, Symb., i., 29; Roxb.,
Flor. Ind. (ed. Carey & Wall.), 1., 51; Hook.f, Flor. Brit. Ind.,
Thon acAOe
Minikoi; common on the coast, Fleming !
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 481
Tropical Africa ; 8.-E. Asia; Australia. Here, as on the shores
of the Andamans and Nicobars, a purely littoral species; it occurs,
however, far inland (as in Assam, é&c.) as well.
100. Evolvulus alsinoides Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii.) 892; Roxb.,
Flor. Ind., ii,, 105; Hook. f., Fler. Brit. Ind.,iv., 200. 2. linifolius
Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii.) 392. HB. angustifolins Roxb., Flor. Ind.
(ed. Carey & Wall.), ii., 107. Convolvulus alsinoides Linun., Sp. Pl.
157.
Kadamum ; Fleming /
A weed of dry places in all tropical and sub-tropical countries.
SoOLANACE.
101. Solanum torvum Swartz, Prodr. 47; Hook. f£., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iv., 234. 8. stramonifolium Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 572,
nec Jacq.
Minikoi; Fleming /
A shrubby weed of waste places in South-Hastern Asia and
tropical America.
102. Physalis minima Jinn., Sp. Pl. 183; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
563; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 238.
var. indica Lamk., Encyc. Moeth., u., 102; Clarke i Hook.
f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 238. Nicandra indica Roem. &
Schult., Syst., iv., 682.
Bangaro; Hume!’ Anderut; Alcock! Kadamum; Fleming /
Kiltan ; Fleming ! Minikoi; Fleming /
A cosmopolitan weed of waste places and fields; also in
Bangaroand Kadamumin this group, as on the Andaman coasts,
a distinctly littoral species: the probabilities of introduction by
fruit-eating birds or by the sea are almost evenly balanced.
103. PHysatis peruviANA Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii.), app. 1670;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 562 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 288. The
Winter-cherry or Cape Gooseberry.
Améni; cultivated, Hume.
Native of America, much cultivated in the Eastern Hemisphere.
The specimens from Bangéro attributed to this species in the former
list are in reality P. minima var. indica; Mr. Hume may,
however, be right in saying that the Winter-cherry is cultivated 1 in
Améni.
489 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1822.
104, Capsicum rrutEescens Linn., Sp. Pl. 189; Rexb., Flor. Ind.,
i., 574; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 289; Watt, Dict.. ii. 137.
The Chillie.
Minikoi; cultivated, Fleming.
Cultivated in all warm countries, native place unknown.
105. Capsicum minimum Roxb., Hort. Beng. 17; Flov. Ind.,
1.7 OV4; Hook. f., Hlor; Bmt. Ind., iv., 289, The Gordi-aye
Chillve.
Akati; as a weed, Fleming /
Cultivated throughout India and Malaya, probably originally
Malayan.
This species is extremely apt, in the warmer valleys of the
Himalaya and in hot moist localities lke the Andamans and
Nicobars, to escape and become, as it has become here, a weed
of waste places. It is nevertheless doubtless a plant originally
intentionally introduced into the Laccadives.
106. Datura fastuosa Linn., Syst. Nat. (ed. x.), i, 932;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 561; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 242;
Watt, Dict., iti., 82. The Black Dhatoora.
Améni; frequent, Hume. Anderut ; Alcock. Akati ; occurs pretty
frequently and is not cultivated, Fleming! Kiltan; “only met with
one plant about 100 yards from the shore,” Fleming! Minikoi;
“only one plant seen, grown in a garden,” Fleming !
A weed of waste places in tropical Africa and South-Kast
Asia; occurs in America also, but perhaps not there indigenous.
The Minikoi specimen, which is from a garden, is the common
Black Dhatoora (D. fastuosa), and though in most of the islands
it is clearly only a weed, it is not improbable that it has been
originally intentionally introduced. It should not be forgotten that
the species may be, and at times is, a bird-introduced one.
ScROPHULARINER.
107. Linaria ramosissima Wall., Pl. As. Rar., i1., 43, t. 153;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 251.
Kaltan ; Fleming /
A weed of dry places throughout Afghanistan, India, Burma and
Ceylon,
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 483
108. Herpestis Monnieria H. B. & K., Syn., ii., 125; Hook,
f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 272. Gratiola Monnierta Linn., Sp. Pl.
(ed. 11.) 24; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 141,
Anderut ; Alcock !
A marsh-weed, cosmopolitan in the tropics.
109. Striga lutea Lour., Flor. Cochin. 22; Hook. £., Flor. Brit.
Ind., iv., 299. Buchnera asiatica Linn., Sp. Pl. 630, in part;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., iti., 31.
Akati; Pleming ! Kadamum ; Fleming! Kiltén; Fleming !
A parasitic weed distributed throughout tropical Africa, the Mas-
carene Islands, Arabia, India, Indo-China and China. It occurs
in the Andamans (as an introduced species) ; apparently absent
from Malaya.
ACANTHACER.
110. Ruellia prostrata Poiret, Encyc. Meth., vi., 8349; Hook.
f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 411. &. ringens Roxb., Flor. Ind,, iii., 44.
Minikvi ; very common, Fleming /
Common throughout India and Ceylon and extending to East
Africa; absent from Malaya and Indo-China. Roxburgh’s
description applies to a form with larger leavesand longer internodes
than typical f. prostrata ; in Mr. Fleming’s gatherings (five or six
in number) both forms occur, as well as intermediate conditions.
111. Barnerta Prionitis Linn., Sp. Pl. 636; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,
ii., 36; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 482; Watt, Dict., i, 400.
B. ciliata Hume, Stray Feathers, iv., 446, nec Roxb. B. cristata
Prain, Laccad. List 6, nee Linn.
Améni; Hume! Minikoi; planted as a hedge, Fleming !
Tropical Africa and Asia, perhaps usually only an introduced
plant in India.
This is mentioned by Mr. Hume in conjunction with a number of
apparently introduced species, and in Minikoi it is alsoan introduced
plant. The specimen on which the presence of B. cristata in the
group depends, proves on re-examination to be only an example
of B. prionitis without any trace of spines. Mr, Hume indeed
states that, like the spiny Acanthad, the unarmed one is “ yellow-
blossomed”? which alone makes its identification with B. ciliata
(B. cristata) impossible. And Mr. Fleming’s Minikoi specimens
y,
484 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
shew the same peculiarity of some being spiny, while others are
quite unarmed.
112. Rungia linifolia Nees iz Wall., Pl. As. Rar., iii., 110;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 548.
Kadamum ; very common, Mleming! Akati; common, Fleming !
A weed of dry places confined to Western India.
113. Rungia parviflora Nees: C. B. Clarke in Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iv., 559.
var. pectinata Clarke: Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 550.
R. pectinata Nees mm DC., Prodr., xi., 470. Justicia
pectinata Linn., Amoen. Acad., iv., 299; Roxb., Flor.
Ind., i., 33.
Améni; Hume! Kadamum; Hume! Akati; Fleming /
A universal weed throughout India, Indo-China and Ceylon.
114. Peristrophe bicalyculata Nees in Wall., Pl. As. Rar.,
i1., 113; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 554. Justicia bicalyculata
WING Shades ties Le) 3 Isorsion5 JMO IbNGl, 5 120,
Améni; Hume! Kadamum ; Fleming / Kiltén ; Fleming /
Tropical Africa, India and Indo-China; not from Malaya or
Ceylon. A common weed in South India, less commen elsewhere.
VERBENACER.
115. Lippia nodiflora Rich. im Michxs, Flor. Bor. Amer., 11.,
15; Hook. f., Flor.. Brit. Ind., iv., 563. Verbena nodiflora Linn.,
Sp. Pl. 20; Roxb., Hort. Beng. 4.
Akati; Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming /
A weed of wet places in all tropical andsub-tropical regions, also
often met with near tropical sea-shores; not impossibly a bird-
introduced species. ‘Though enumerated in Roxburgh’s Hortus
Bengalensis, this species is not described by him in the I’lora Indica.
116. Stachytarpheta indica Vahl, Enum., 1., 206; Hook. t.,
Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 564. Verbena indica Linn., Syst. Vex.
(ed. x.), ii., 851; Roxb., Hort. Beng. 4.
Anderut; Alcock /
A common garden-plant, readily escaping and becoming wild,
throughout tropical America where it is indigenous, and tropical
Asia where it is probably “naturalized”? only. Here it is quite
wild; it may have come as a weed, but more probably has been
BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 485
intentionally introduced. As with Lippia nodiflora, Roxburgh
includes this in the Hortus Bengalensis, but excludes it from the
Flora Indica.
117. Premna integrifolia Linn., Mantiss. 252 ; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iv. 574. P. serratifolia Linn., Mantiss. 253. P. spinosa
Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 77.
Kadamum ; “forming thickets,” Hume! “very common; a little
way inshore,” Fleming ! Kalpeni; on the shore, Alcock! Minikoi;
coast zone, leming !
A littoral and sub-littoral species, very abundant on Indian, Indo-
Chinese, Andamans, Nicobars and Malay Coasts.
118. Clerodendron inerme Gaertn., Fruct.,i., 271, t. 57, f. 1;
Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii., 58; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 589.
Kalpéni; plentiful on the coast, Alcock /
A littoral species abundant on Indian, oe Andamans and
Indo-Chinese coasts.
LABIATA,
119. Ocimum gratissimum Linn., Sp. Pl. 1197; Roxb., Flor.
Ind., ii., 17 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 608.
Bitrapar; growing near the Pir’s tomb, Alcock, Kadamum ;
Fleming! Kalpéni; Alcock! Minikoi ; Fleming !
One of the Tulsi plants, occasionally cultivated, but generally
occurring as a weed of waste places throughout tropical Africa,
the Mascarene Islands, India, Ceylon and Malaya. It also occurs
as a weed in America, but there it is probably only an escape
from cultivation and not an indigenous plant. Here, where
the people are Mohammedans, the true or sacred Tulst (Ocimum
sanctum) is not found at all, this—the Ram Tulsi—taking its
place. In Car Nicobar and in Burma, where also one Tulsi is as
good as an other, the people not beimg Hindus, it is the Gulal
Tulsi—the Basil (O. Basilicum) —that is usually found as a weed
near native dwellings.
120. Anisomeles ovata R. Br. in Ait., Hort. Kew. (ed. ii.), ii.,
364; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv., 672. Nepeta indica Linn., Sp.
Pl. 571. Ballota disticha Linn., Mantiss. 83. Ajuga disticha
Roxb., Flor. Ind., i1., 2
Kadamum; Fleming! Akati; Fleming! Minikoi; Fleming !
64
486 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
A weed of roadsides and waste places throughout tropical and
sub-tropical South-Hastern Asia.
121. Leucas aspera Spreng., Syst., ii., 743; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind., iv., 690. Phlomis esculenta Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 10.
Améni; Hume! Anderut; Alcock! Akati; Fleming! Kadamum;
Fleming ! Kiltan; Fleming !
A weed of cultivation throughout South-Hastern Asia and in the
Mascarene Islands. |
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LE TS SS Ss ASP SE ASS
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THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
By Surgron-Masor K. R. Kirrixar, F.1.s.,
PART EV,
(With Plates E and F.)
TRICHOSANTHES CUCUMERINA (Linn.).
MarAtHI—AHSISIS; TATSAS.
(Natura, OrpER—CUCURBITACES.)
Synonyms :—T. lancinosa.
T. pilosa.
Bryonia umbellata.
Cucumis Missionis.
Tue plant isa scandentherb, more or less pubescent ; annual, strictly
of the rainy season. Has a faint disagreeable odour. Dicecious; or
“less often (? when cultivated) moncecious”:—Clarke (Hooker’s
Flor. Br. Ind.)
Roor.—Somewhat tuberous, lying deep in the ground; slightly
woody, fibrous; whitish in colour.
Srem.—Herbaceous, with a few woody fibres, pentangular, striate,
watery; having a tendency to the formation of twisted irregular
nodules.
LrAves.—3-6 inches long; 2-4 inches at base; ovate-cordate ;
slightly lobate ; lobes five, not distinctly marked; margin broad and
deeply curved at the base, serrate throughout; acuminate. Deep
green; faintly cream-coloured here and there; puberulous. Tendrils
wavy, finely spiral, bifid usually; sometimes trifid or undivided ;
sometimes displaced by irregular nodes. Venation of leaves strikingly
whitish ; nerves prominent on the under surface. Petiole, slender, 2-4
inches long; grooved, often deeply ; wavy.
Fiowers.— Buds oblong-rotund. Mare rLtowsers.—Pedunceles in
pairs; often in racemes with short pedicels at the apex of long
peduncles. Size of flowers, small; colour white; petals five, fringed
with delicate fibrils; star-shaped, with parallel nerves; crisped and
contorted. Bracts, large. Calyx, 5-sepalled, 1 inch long, tubular;
sepals very narrow, green, cuspidate. Stamens, 3, short, greenish,
488 JOURNAL, POUMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOOIETY, 1892.
almost included ; connate ; long-linear ; 1 one-celled, 2 two-celled; cells
conduplicate, yellowish.
FEMALE FLOWERS.—Solitary, often opposite a leaf; calyx and
corolla asin male. Style, greenish ; stigma, trifid and whitish.
Frouir.—A pepo; 2-4 inches long; ovate, pointed at both ends;
with short peduncles which are incurved, dark green and shining;
shape oblong-rotund; carpels imperfect ; externally marked greenish-
white in the younger stage with broken longitudinal lines from apex
to base. ‘The colour of the fruit is greenish when first formed,
gradually changing into yellow, orange, and deep scarlet as the fruit
matures: pulp cream-coloured when the fruit is young.
Sexps.—2-4 inch, compressed or corrugate ; arranged in rows of
three, transversely or horizontally ; large; varying in number from
20—30 or more, surrounded by a thin fetid bitter watery pulp which
assumes a deep red colour when the fruit matures. Shape of seed
oblong-plane ; angulated at its attachment to the funicle. The fruit
matures in September and October. Abundant in the neighbourhood
of Bombay.
Poisonous PROPERTIES.
The plant has a distinctly emetic effect. Rheede (in Hort. Malab.,
Vol. VII., pp. 107-108) mentions that the juice of the plant pro-
duces vomiting. The juice of two ounces of the root acts as a violent
drastic purgative, not unlike Elwteriwm which is a product of the
squirting cucumber of the same Natural Order. The plant is said
to cure quotidian and quartan fevers chiefly by inducing vomiting.
The drug, therefore, has to be used with caution. The leaves, root
and fruit are all bitter, and act equally powerfully.
Description of Plate E.
A branch of the plant with fruit. The leaf in the centre is
typical. The red fruit to the right is mature. Irregular nodes shewn
in two places to the left: the one below has swollen the stem; the one
above in 3 globular masses has displaced a small branch. Below
the branch is a transverse section of the fruit through the middle
shewing the 3 seeds, and the creamy pulp of the three indistinct
earpels.
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Journ. Bomb ay Natekist Sec: Plate #&
— Ce nS RT A Se NR aS a SE TE -
The Poisonous Plants of Bombay
Gikonterca SUS Gr oie liao
(= Natural size )
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 489
GLORIOSA SUPERBA (Linn.).
MarAtrHi—@sararet-
(NaturaL OrpEer—LiIciace%.)
The plant is an annual climber, wild in hedges and jungles ; often
cultivated in gardens for its beautiful flowers.
Roor—Tuberous, fleshy, budding from the convexity above ;
tubers cylindrical or flattened, in some parts sometimes slightly
twisted. 4 to 9 inches long; about an inch thick. Substance
internally white, mealy, juicy, with a slight acrid odour. The exter-
nal appearance of the tuber is brown. This is due to the thin paper-
like epidermis which encloses it at all parts of the bulb, except the
growing point, which latter looks like the eye of a potato. The
epidermis is easily removed by the mere handling of the bulb, and
is fragile. The old bulb, as the plant matures, shrivels up, and
gradually throws out a new bulb at right angles which terminates
in a growing point. It is from this growing point that the future
plant sprouts out. The rootlets are chiefly confined to the part of
the bulb directly opposite to where the stem is situated.
Srem—Usually a single stem arises from the bulb. It may
branch off almost inmediately after it leaves the tuber. The stem
is put down as 10—20 ft. by Hooker (Flora Br. Ind.), but is often
much longer than that in the jungles, where it is seen in its natural
condition. When the stem branches off immediately on leaving the
tuber underground, three or four slender cylindrical green sprouts
shoot up above the ground, thus making it appear that they are
separate plants from one and the same bulb; but it is not so.
One bulb, one plant is the rule invariably in a number of bulbs
T have carefully examined. The stem isnearly cylindrical, and though
herbaceous, is tough and interspersed with woody fibres in close-
packed bundles. The medulla of the stem is slightly pithy and full
of watery juice when fresh ; hollow when the plant dries up and the
pith shrivels up. At each insertion of the leaf, which is arranged
in pairs in an opposite manner, the stem deviates from the median
line, thus giving the whole plant an angular or regular wavy
appearance,
490 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Leaves—Sessile or short petioled; the inferior ones opposite
and oblong ; the superior ones single, ovate-Janceolate; the other leaf
replaced by the flower-stalk, when the plant is in flower. The
length of the leaves varies from six to eight inches; the greatest
breadth is often as much as two inches. Venation, parallel-nerved.
Mid-rib prominent, terminating intoa stiff spiral coil, which resembles
a tendril. This is a marked characteristic of the plant, which, so
far as I know, has no parallel in the Vegetable Kingdom.
Frowers—Solitary, on long slender variously curved peduncles,
4-6 inches long ; deflexed, often giving the flowers with their reflex
petals the appearance of a slender-winged butterfly poised in the air.
It is this that gives the gergeous flowers their unique appearance,
and shows off their rich, varied, and ever-varying hues.
PeriantH—Of six petals, persistent. Flower-buds conical or
pyramidal, bright green.
Perats—3-4 inches long; linear-lanceolate, narrow, undulate
or crisped; bright green witha pale yellow margin when fresh
opened ; bright yellow up to a third from their insertion, and scarlet
up to tip when full-blown; gradually converting into rich scarlet,
with golden-yellow margin and mid-rib when the ovary is maturing
into fruit and growing in size. The flower retains its beauty for
several days. The petals are persistent, and don’t fall off even
after the plant has dried. They fall off long after the fruit and
seeds are mature. It is this that makes it so appreciable as a forest
and garden beauty. The petals, which are reflexed when fresh-
open, assume a spreading aspect as they grow older.
Sramens—Six hypogynous; radiating from the ovary.
Fiiaments—Filiform, sometimes stout; bright green when
the flower first opens; gradually changing into bright golden
yellow as the flower matures.
Connective-—Greenish ; changing into golden-yellow.
Anthers—Large, semilunar, versatile, golden-yellow, extrorse ;
often dorsifixed.
Pist1L :-—
Ovary—s-celled, superior, as is characteristic of the
natural order Liliacee; the carpels deeply grooved in the
centre, thus giving the fruit the appearance of a six-lobed
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 491
body, though actually three-lobed, as is clearly shown in
figures 4 and 5 in the accompanying plate drawn from
nature.
Sryre—Filiform, deflexed almost at right angles from the very
apex of the ovary, tapering into a trifid stigma from a broadish
base, greenish just as the flowers open, gradually changing into
yellow. Sometimes the style remains long after the petals hay
fallen.
Fruir—A capsule 2 inches long; an inch broad when full
developed ; coriaceous ;° septicidal.
Szeps—Numerous, subglobose, in dense double rows in each of
the three carpels of the capsule. Testa spongy white when
young, covered with a brilliant rich scarlet mucilaginous coat
when the fruit matures.
Emsryo—Cylindrical,
Remarks.—Gloriosa superba is essentially a monsoon plant; it
begins to sprout out in the early part of the rainy season, and dies
soon after the rains. The bulb remains dormant throughout the cold
weather. It flowers and bears fruit from July to September. Should
the plant be cultivated as a garden beauty or ornamental trellis-plant,
it is best to repot or replant it in February or March, or at the latest
in April, when the terminal bud of the tuber begins to sprout out.
Dalzell and Gibson call it “ Buchnig.” This is a mistake. Buchnig
is the root of Aconitum ferox, which is different in form and appear-
ance. There is no doubt, however, that the tubers of this plant are
adulterated with the tubers of the real Buchnag. Dalzell and Gib-
son also call the plant ‘ Aa/awee.” This isevidently a misprint, and
meant for the Marathi synonym ‘“ Kala-lawee”’ (azaTdi). Surgeon-
General Edward Balfour, of Madras, states that the petals of the
flower of Gloriosa superba are fringed (Cyclopedia of India, Vol. 1.).
It is not so. There is no fringe of any kind on any part of the
plant. The colour of the flowers depends a great deal on the amount of
the sun or the intensity of it, to which the flowers are exposed as
they are maturing and expanding. The specimen from which our
drawing is made was obtained from a plant which flowered under a
persistent cloudy sky ; the scarlet colour is therefore not quite so deep
or bright as it might be, and very often is. Firminger speaks of a
492 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
caterpillar infesting it. He says that if not looked to, the plant is
entirely consumed by the caterpillars. J am not aware of the plant
ever being similarly attacked or even approached by devouring
insects, on this side of India. It would be useful to haye more
information: on this point.
Tuer Potsonous PRoPERTIES,
This plant is one of the nine secondary poisons mentioned by
Hindu writers. They are given as follows in Nighanta Ratndkar
(Vol, III., p. 255) :—
Euphorbia neriifolia.
Calotropis gigantea.
Gloriosa superba.
Abrus precatorius, red and white.
Nereum odorum.
Strychnos Nux-Vomica.
Datura alba and fastuosa.
Jatropha Curcas.
Papaver somniferum (its product opium).
OO TB oo
Very few cases of poisoning are on record, but the plant is well
known all over the country as a virulent poison, although it is said
to be useful in fevers as an antiperiodic. Dr. Norman Chevers
mentions two cases (Medical Jurisprudence, p. 284), in one of which
the effects are stated to have been those of a Narcotico-irritant
poison ; it is not stated what poisonous symptoms were observed in
the other. In the one z; tola and in the other 2 tolas of the root
caused death. Brigade-Surgeon Lyon mentions (Medical Juris-
prudence, p. 454) a case reported in the Indian Medical Gazette,
1872, p. 153, in which the powdered root (quantity not men-
tioned produced the following effects:—“‘ Symptoms of poisoning
appeared in half an hour, and were :—retching, violent vomiting,
spasms and contortions of the body, with fearful racking pain;
from time to time there were short intervals of relief, followed by
recurrence of the same symptoms. Death took place in four hours.
The post-mortem. appearances were congestion of the brain and its
membranes with extravasations of blood. The lungs, liver, and
kidneys were all deeply congested. The gastric mucous mem-~
brane showed signs of inflammation. The peritoneal covering of
the fundus of uterus (unimpregnated) was also found inflamed.”
THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 493
Ancient Hindu writers agree in attributing violent emetic properties
to the root; it is also said to cause abortion, and as such prescribed by
Hindu physicians for expelling retained after-births. Dr. Dymock,
in citing the researches of Warden, says that there are two resins and
a bitter principle in the root. Warden names this bitter principle
superbine, and considers it identical with that of Urginea Scilla, the
ordinary Squill. The bitter active principle of Squill, says Dr. Lauder-
Brunton, is a glucoside Scillitoxin or Scillain. The Scillitin of
some authors is probably slightly impure Scillitoxin (Pharma-
cology, p. 962). Squill is classed by Lauder-Brunton among
stimulants of the Cardiac muscle, when moderate doses are given.
When, on the other hand, larger doses are given, it acts asa ‘‘ Cardiac
poison” (p. 276, Op. cit.). In such cases, that is to say, where the
dose is large, ‘* the stage of stimulation is followed by one of peris-
taltic action and final arrest in Systole.” It is a pity the case
quoted by Dr. Lyon gives no information regarding the post-martem
condition of the heart, although the condition of every other
organ is noted. It will be useful to note this condition in all
future observations with a view to verify the opinion of Warden.
In excessive doses, ‘“‘the operation of Squills,” says Dr. Waring
( Therapeutics, p. 489), “is that of an acro-narcotic poison, 24 grains
having proved fatal.” Squill is known to cause nausea; a small dose
may act with extreme violence. I have already said that the plant
is well known among the Hindus as possessing emetic properties.
The conjecture of Warden is in my opinion based on a striking simi-
larity of the physiological effects of the two plants-on the human body.
Description of Plate F.
1. Flowering branch of the plant.
2. Root, bilobed; vertical portion being half the shrivelled tuber
of the current year; the horizontal portion being the new tuber, from
the terminal eye of which, at the tip of the part marked 3, the future
plant will sprout out : from the convexity of the angle rises the green
stem of the plant dividing into four branches immediately on escaping
from the bulb; from the under surface of the angle are shown
numerous rootlets.
4, Half-mature fruit cut across, about the middle.
5. Half-mature capsular fruit in situ.
65
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, &c.,
By'Pror. H. Lirrieparsz, 8.A., Baroda College.
( Read before the Bombay Natural History Society,
. July 4th, 1892. )
Havine lately been looking into the accounts of wild dogs given
by several writers on sport and natural history, I have been im-
pressed by the comparative scantiness of the information that seems
to have accumulated on the subject.
The fullest and most scientific account of wild dogs in India is to
be found in Mr. Blanford’s recent book on the Mammalia of India,
and I have compared with his remarks the various references to
these animals in Darwin’s Animals and Plants under Domestication,
Jerdon’s Mammals of India, Sterndale’s Natural History, Cassell’s
Natural History, Stonehenge’s Book of the Dog, Ward’s Sportsman’s
Guide to Kashmir, Forsyth’s Highlands of Central India, Saunder-
son’s Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India, Baldwin’s
Game of Bengal, Kinloch’s Large Game Shooting, and Nicholson’s
Zoology.
Mr. Blanford divides the living Indian Canide into three genera,
Canis, Cyon, and Vulpes. He mentions some fossil remains of
extinct species of Canis and Vulpes, and also an extinct genus
called Amphicyon, intermediate between dogs and bears, of which
a fossil species has been found in the Siwaliks; and he points ont
that the Indian wild dog, although belonging to the Canida, is less
truly canine than are other members of the family, such as the
wolf and jackal.
The genus Cyon (xvey a dog) has two Indian representatives,
Oyon deccanensis, the wild dog of the Himalayas and Peninsular
India, and Cyon rutilans, the wild dog of the Malayan region
(‘rutilans color’ in Pliny means of a ‘red or glowing colour,’ from
rutilo, to make or colour red). ‘The specific differences of these
two forms are slight, and have not been very fully examined.
The essential points of unlikeness between the genus Cyon and the
true dog-genus Canis are that Cyon has only two true molars on
each side of the lower jaw, instead of three, as in Canis.
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, &c. 495
The dental formula of the two are as follows :-—
Cyon. Canis.
3 — 3 3 — 38
IMCISOLS | 2.1.4; es ee
3 -- 3 3 — 8
1 — 1 | SS oe
canines, .:..... ———-—_— week
1 — J] 1.— J]
4. — 4 4 — 4
premolars.......©§ ———--—— gee ee A Soe
4 — 4 4 — 4
2 aed zal 2
molars... ....... —————— pe bis bal
2 — 2 3 — 8
WObals se vas 40 42
In the next place, the female Canis has ten mamme, or more rarely
eight, while Cyon has twelve or fourteen.*
Finally, says Mr. Blanford, the muzzle in Cyon is proportionately
shorter, and the line of the face, when viewed from the side, is
shghtly convex, instead of being straight or concave as in other
Canidae. 7
I will return to Mr. Blanford’s account of the wild dog later on;
I may now give an outline of what other writers have left on record,
adding a few comments here and there.
* Darwin (Animals and Plants, i. p. 36) points out that the mamme in Canis “ vary
from geven tv ten in number; Daubenton having examined twenty-one dogs, found
eight with five mamme on each side; eight with four on each side, and the others
with an unequal number on the two sides.’ But if I understand him rightly, he does
not consider ‘‘the additional molar teeth”? or ‘‘ the number of mammz” ag essential
characteristics of distinct breeds. He says :—‘‘Some of the differences above enu-
merated are in one respect of little value, for they are not characteristic of distinct
breeds; no one pretends that such is the case with the additional molar teeth or
with the number of mamme,”’ &c. (page 38, Vol. i.). Does such refer to ‘being of little
value’ or to ‘being characteristic’? The sentence is rather obscure, but I think
it is elucidated by what follows:—‘‘Those who have attended to the subject of
selection will admit that, nature having given variability, man, if he chose, could fix
five toes to the hinder feet of certain breeds of dogs, as certainly as to the feet of his
Dorking fowls ; he could probably fix, but with much more difficulty, an additional
pair of molar teeth on either jaw, in the same way as he has given additiona horns
to certain breeds of sheep,” &c.,
496 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 18%.
Mr. Sterndale (p. 241) gives a spirited illustration of the wild
dog hunting, but hisdog has pointed instead of rounded hyzena-
like ears, and is too full-bodied and wolf-like; its tail too is not
long enough, for the wild dog’s tail is one-half the length of the
head and body, and the tail of the dog in his woodeut does not look
more than one-third, if so much, of the head and body. This would
suit a jackal’s picture better. In fact the portrait gives one rather
an incorrect idea of the wild dog as it appears alive in the jungle.
Mr. Sterndale (following Jerdon and Blyth) considers that there is
only one species of wild dog, C yon rutiluns, varying locally, and there
is probably a good deal to be said for this view of the matter. Cer-
tainly Mr. Blanford’s attribution of “ woolly under-fur” to deccan-
ensis, is more applicable to the Himalayan form than to the wild-dog
of the plains, as this latter has only a slight ruff of under-fur round
the throat, where a mane might have been placed, and not covering
the body generally. The existence of under-fur suggests that the
animal of the plains may be derived from ancestors that inhabited
colder regions. Mr. Sterndale quotes from Hodgson and McMaster,
but as his book is so well knownin Bombay, I need not make any long
extracts from it, and will only note that according to Hodgson (on
native authority, Mr. Blanford surmises) “wild dogs bark like
hounds in hunting”; while McMaster quotes ‘‘ Hawk-eye” (Col.
Hamilton) to the effect that “the wild dog does not throw his
tongue when in chase ; he has heard them make a kind of tremulous
-whimper.” This latter opinion is confirmed by Stonehenge and
other writers.
Mr. Sterndale also quotes from his own ‘‘ Seonee ” as follows :—
“he natives in all parts of India declare that even tigers are
attacked by them ; and we once heard a very circumstantial account
of a fight which took place near the station of Seonee, between a
tiger and a pack of these dogs, in which the latter were victors.
They followed him about, cautiously avoiding too close a contact,
and worried him for three successive days,—a statement which
should be received with caution. We have however heard of them
annoying a tiger to such an extent as to make him surrender to
them the prey which he had killed for himselt.”
There is a general tendency, I may remark, among English
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, &c. 497
naturalists, to disbelieve the native stories about tigers and wild
dogs, and some of the stories are certainly incredible,* but these
legends come down from old times when tigers were far more
plentiful than they are now, and when the natives had very full
opportunities of observing the ways of wild beasts. Besides, though
wild dogs are extremely shy and timid in the presence of man, they
are terribly fierce by nature also, and we know that individually timid
species of the lower animals will often display great daring when
mutually encouraged and acting in a flock or pack. And is it not
* an error to suppose (as is often done) that among the four-footed, as
among the human denizens of the jungles, there is that overpowering
awe of the tiger that civilised man—more imaginative than they—is
sometimes disposed to feel ? For my own part, I can well believe that
a pack of these agile dogs could give even a full-grown tiger, when
either recently gorged or else weakened by hunger, an exceedingly
bad time of it, especially if they worried him day after day for
several days under the hot sun, as they are said todo. Nor are all
tigers alike in strength. There may be the mangy old toothless
tiger on his last legs, growing weaker and dimmer-eyed as the days
pass by ; in fact dying
as slow
As the morning mists down the hill that go;
such a tiger as he would have a bad chance against a dozen of these
red demons snatching at his flanks! And, again, there may be the
perky and inquisitive cub (whose mother does not know that he
is out), when the wild pack meet with him ina lonely place, is he
not likely to pay for his desire of ‘‘ seeing life ” by losing it ?
Certainly with regard to the tiger in his full vigour, “ burning
bright in the forests of the night,”—I confess to a liberal disbelief
of the native legends myself. The oriental imagination is undoubt-
edly too luxuriant at times, and we must allow a discount accord-
jugly. But on a view of the whole matter, I incline to think that
there is or was a very large substratum of fact to the native stories,
wonderfully circumstantial and widespread as they are, of the
prowess of the wild red dogs against the tiger. ‘* Why should I
shoot the wild dog ?” said the patel of a jungle-village to me once;
“heis my god: he kills the tigers that take my cows!’ And this
represents the universal belief among the wilder tribes of India,
* For example, the extraordinary belief stated further on in a quotation from
Molesworth’s Marathi Dictionary.
498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1899.
from north to south. In this connection, finally, I would ask you to
recollect the instinctive antipathy between the Canide and Felidae,
and the well-known fear that the Felide show for packs of dogs,
panthers especially taking to trees when chased even by three or
four village pariah dogs, although they turn the tables on the pariah
when they meet him by moonlight alone.
Mr. Satinderson (p. 275) says: “ From what I have seen of their
style of hunting, and of their power of tearing and lacerating, I
think there can be no doubt of their ability to kill a tiger ;” and he
mentions some facts in corroboration of this. Captain Baldwin
(p. 126, compare pp. 19 and 108) says that he only twice met with the
wild dog, once near Mussoorie and once in the bullutpore jungles.
He too relates ‘‘well-authenticated anecdotes of a tiger and a bear
having been attacked by wild dogs, and both coming off second
best in the battle; the result being that the former was torn to
pieces, and the latter so cruelly mauled that he could only have held
out a short time longer, had the fight continued to the end.”
Once a pack of nine of these dogs hunted some pig that his
beaters had turned out; they went by him with their noses to the
ground.
This coincides with what I have observed in my young Cyon
wild dog—she seeks her food not more by sight than by scent; often
when she does not see clearly wherea bit of meat has fallen she noses
it out with great quickness and then snap! and it is gone. Her
sight is improving inthis respect—at first it was very bad. Baldwin
quotes a Bombay sportsman who shot a couple of junglee kitds
that were “very thin and long in the leg,” but other observers
notice the shortness of leg of these animals as compared with
true Canis. I have not been struck by any very marked difference
in this respect between Cyon and Canis, but the forelegs of Cyon do
seem shorter than those of the ordinary red pariah ; and Cyon has
a habit of stooping in an inquiring way, with his back somewhat
rounded, when facing you. His body is very greyhound-like and
muscular.
Colonel Kinloch gives a good picture of a stuffed head of the
wild dog, a Tibetan specimen from near Leh in Ladakh, where these
dogs are not uncommon, and are known as Hazi. He says that the
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, &c. 499
wild dog ‘‘ stands considerably higher than the common jackal; he
is also much longer in the body and more wolfish-looking. The
colour is a reddish-yellow; the hair is soft and woolly, and abont
two inches in length. The tail is long and bushy, and carried like
a fox’s, but it is not so full as the brush of the latter animal.”
Colonel Kinloch is speaking of the wild dog as it is modified to
suit the rigorous climate of the Tibetan table-land, and you will see
that the same animal puts on a much shorter and thinner and darker
coat in the hot jungles of the Vindhyan region. Kinloch says that
he has often been in their vicinity but has very seldom seen them.
Captain Forsyth (p. 357) relates that he fell in with a tribe of
Gond wood-cutters who had a breed of “fine large red-coloured
dogs, with the aid of which they were able to run down and spear
many deer and wild pigs. This red breed of pariahs is certainly ”
(he continues) ‘‘the indigenous one of these parts [Pachmarh
country] whether or not,” as he suspects, ‘“ descended from the wild
species that frequent these jungles.”
Darwin (Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. I., p. 28
states that ‘the natives of Guiana have partially domesticated two
aboriginal species, and still cross their dogs with them; these two
species belong to a quite different type from the North American
and European wolves.” This suggests that we should make an
examination of the Gond dogs, to see whether they possess the
dental and other characteristics of Cyon. Professor Duncan, quot-
ing Captain Williamson from Youatt, also states (Cassell’s Natural
History) that the wild dogs in some parts of India are “ half-domes-
ticated, and used in the noble sport of pig-sticking.” Darwin (op.
cit. II., p. 144) says that Indian wild dogs breed in captivity. Thi
might lead to partial domestication in the second or third generation,
perhaps sufficient to admit of crossing for purposes of sport. Butthe
whole subject of the semi-domesticated dogs of the wild tribes of India
requires looking into. Perhaps some member of our Society residing
in the Central Provinces will kindly favour us with notes on these
Gond dogs. It does not seem impossible that the pariah dog and
the wild dog should inter-breed occasionally, as jackals and pariahs
do; and the uniformity of colour in those red dogs mentioned by
Forsyth is indicative of a feral origin, as variation of colour on the
500 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
contrary is characteristic of domestication. “The wild dogs,”
Forsyth continues, “live in packs of fifteen or twenty, and prey
exclusively on game, running down all sorts of deer like a pack of
hounds. Where a pack has heen hunting for any time, most of the
game naturally disappears. This applies to the tiger even, which
they are said to attack whenever they meet him. Tigers would
naturally follow the herds of deer on which they prey, if they
were moved by the wild dogs; but there is such a consensus of
native opinion as to the pack actually hunting, and even sometimes
killing, tigers, that it is difficult altogether to discredit it. I do not
believe [Forsyth continues] that any number of the dogs could
overcome a tiger in fair fight ; but I think it quite possible that they
might stick to him, and wear him out by keeping him from his
natural food. Many stories are related of tigers climbing into trees
(which, of course, is quite against their nature) to escape from them ;
and I once saw the bones of a tiger lying on a ledge of rock, where
more than one person assured me that they had seen him lying sur-
rounded by a large pack of the wild dogs.”
‘Pair fight,’ as Forsyth calls it, is not the system of attack
pursued by these dogs; they keep out of reach and make snatches at
the tiger, lacerating the hinder parts in a terribly effective manner.
Major Ward, in his Sportsman’s Guide to Kashmir (p. 88), says
that the Ram hun or wild dog is tolerably common in Tuilail, north-
east of the vale of Kashmir. He shot two out of a pack, and notes
that one was five feet long from the nose toend of tail. He also notes
that game leave a district infested by these dogs, but he does not
credit the stories of their killing tigers, though he believes that the
tigers leave the jungles as the game has been driven away by the dogs.
He mentions that a pair of these dogs took up their quarters near a
Kashmiri village, and often worried the sheep in the open country.
Jerdon (Mammals, p. 145) says that there is “ a prevalent belief
among sportsmen in India of the existence: of two races of wild dogs
in India,” and he quotes Hamilton Smith, who goes further in
stating that “besides the Jangli Kuta of the plains, there are two
hill kinds, one larger, the other smaller,’ &c. According to Major
Ward, the Kashmiri shikaris also say that there are two species of
these wild dogs, the small breed destroying sheep and goats and
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, ée. 501
keeping low down in the ravines, the larger breed hunting on the
higher mountains ; but he doubts the truth of this statement.
1 would suggest that the “small breed” is really a pack of
females and cubs ; the mothers are teaching the young ones to hunt,
and they naturally blood them on easily-killed animals as sheep and
goats which are found low down in the valleys. The full-grown
and Jarger animals would seek their natural food, wild goats, musk
deer, barasing, oorin, etc., in the haunts of such creatures on the
higher ground.
“Stonehenge”? has some remarks on the dhole, as, following
Captain Williamson, he calls the wild dog ; he quotes from the older
writers, Buffon, Pennant, and Bell, on the origin, and Williamson
on the habits, of the animal. He states that the dholes, unlike most
dogs which hunt im packs, “run nearly mute, uttering only occa-
sionally a slight whimper, which may serve to guide their com-
panions equally well with the more sonorous tongues of other
hounds.” On the whole, I may say that his account of the wild
animal is not very authoritative, as his special knowledge of the
subject begins with the domesticated varieties of the dog,
Ogilvy’s Dictionary states that dhole is the Cingalese name for the
wild dog, and quaintly adds that it ‘‘ runs down almost every animal
except the elephant and rhinoceros.” Mr. Blanford does not give
the name dhole, and says that the wild dog is not found in Ceylon.
To what, then, do the Cingalese refer as the dhole ? What is
Chrysaeus ceylanicus? andis Jerdon (p. 148) wrong in saying:
“The wild dog is common in Ceylon ?”’
There is an excellently compiled account of the wild dog by
Professor Duncan in Cassell’s Natural History, Vol. I., giving the
facts as I have quoted them from other writers.
Dr. Nicholson, in his Manual of Zoology (p. 747), figures the
dentition of the wolf as a typical Cants, but omits all mention of the
genus Cyon, unless he means to include it when he says: “ Such wild
dogs as there are, are probably merely derived from the domestic
dog ;” this, however, is so clearly not true of Cyon that I conclude
he does not mean to indicate it among these tame dogs run wild,
but is rather thinking of the Australian dingo.
My interest in the subject of Indian wild dogs has been increased
66
502 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1899.
of late by my having come across them several times last May in the
jungles of the lower Tapti Valley, when I procured a couple of
dead full-grown specimens, and a couple of live pups, one of which
still survives. I met with three packs of five, nine, and fifteen
individuals, and these numbers represent the average size of one,
two, or three families, if packs are aggregates of families, as seems
likely. Mr. Blanford gives twenty as the size of large packs,
but a friend well acquainted with packs of hounds informs me that
he saw a pack of nearly forty of these wild dogs, many years ago, in
the Chandni jungles near Asseerghur. Probably small packs or
family parties combine at times, and then separate again according
as business is brisk or the opposite.
On the 5th of May my shikaris captured two pups of the wild
dog, Cyon deccanensis. ‘The men said that there were three in the
litter, but that one escaped. They found them in the Baroda jungles
to the south of the Tapti, opposite Vajypur. The pair brought were
male and female; but the male, the smaller and weaker of the two,
was very sick and died on the 7th, having refused all food. They
seemed to be about three weeks old, which would fix their birth about
the middle of April. Mr. Blanford says the young are produced
from January to March; so this period must now be extended a
little. He also says that they are of a sooty-brown colour, but I
should rather describe their colour as a sooty-yellowish dun. They
were as snappishand wild at first as this one is on a larger scale still.
After their capture the pups were taken to a village five miles or so
distant, but the mother tracked them and was heard calling to them
at night. Next day at noon they were carried in a bag to my camp,
five miles away on the other side of the Tapti, which thereabouts is
100 yards broad but only two or three feet deep. They were tied
up inside a hut of branches with my other dogs, amid a concourse
of grooms and other servants, horses, goats, bullocks, camel, &c.
But the mother soon found them again. The pups whimpered
occasionally, and the men said that she had called to them during
the night. She had crossed the river and tracked them five miles,
and at 9-30 on the morning of the 7th, she was about 100 yards
from the camp amid the bamboos on a hill side, calling to them in a
loud piercing wail, quite unlike a dog’s cry. As I would not restore
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, é&e. 503
her lost pups to her, and as I thought how the sambur, once numer-
ous, had all been killed off or driven from the hills by these same red
dogs, I checked all sentimental emotions ina transport of scientific
zeal, and five minutes later had ascertained her weight to be 30 lbs.,
her length 84 inches from nose to root of tail; her tail with hair
17 inches, and 15 inches to end of vertebree ; her height 20 inches
at the shoulder; her irides brown, and pupils large and round.
The terminal portion of the brush was black, with a few white
hairs at the very tip. Mr. Blanford quotes Hodgson as saying that
the tail of a specimen he had was 144 inches, including the hair,
and 8 inches without the hair. These figures seem doubtful. The
general colour was rufous, paler underneath. The hair was
considerably redder and coarser and somewhat longer than
is that of the ordinary village pariah-dog; the muzzle blackish;
ears, large, thick, and rounded like those of a hyena. I had been
feeding this pup on milk and water, which she seemed to think poorly
of as an article of diet; and as the mother-dog (if she was the
mother and not merely a sympathetic passer-by) did not seem to
have such a supply of the milk of canine kindness as would suffice
for three hungry puppies, I concluded that they had begun to
be weaned, and accordingly changed the diet to soup and meat.
One was too far gone to feed, but the other snatched at the
bits of meat with a ravenous fury that reminded me of the way
in which a pike or a young crocodile dashes blindly at a bait as it
passes him. The irides of this pup were not brown, but blue-gray
at first, as one notices is the case with the irides of brown-eyed pups
generally. In about a fortnight they had become brown. This dog
seemed to be guided to her food by smell rather than by sight at
first, and even now she does not always seem to see near objects
clearly, but noses about on the ground for small bits of meat thrown
to her. She dashes ata plate full of scraps of meat, and tries to bolt
bit after bit as fast as she can snatch them, nearly choking herself
at times, and she often seizes the plate and drags it away to the end
of her chain, upsetting the contents. She does this oftenest with
milk. She rarely touches water, but laps, rather gobbles up, milk
eagerly. My little spaniel Paddy often tried to play and frisk with
her, and she used to put her head up to his nose and seemed to be
504 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
inclined to be friendly with him, but she never wagged her tail as
canine puppies would have done in such a case; sometimes, when
alone, she jumps up and frisks on her hind legs, but her playfulness
comes to an end quickly, and she whimpers in a sad way as if yearn-
ing for freedom. Latterly, she has ceased to be friendly with the
spaniels, and flies at them if they come near her, and seizes them by
the ears or snaps at theirflanks. I always feed her myself, and she is
less shy with me than with anyone else, but if I come near her sud-
denly she gives a short snappy grrr, and dashes round to the end of
her chain—soon returning to see if the usual bit of meat or drink of
milk has been brought her. I had to give up holding the meat while
she seized it from my hand, for as often as not she caught my fingers
as well as the meat in her pike-like snatches. Her teeth are sharpand
her jaws powerful—she cracks small bones easily. She screams
(I might almost say) with excitement if my spaniels get their food
before she gets hers. She is as fierce as she is shy, and if certain of
my servants come near her she bristles up and goes for them at once.
She struggles and bites like a demon when anyone tries to touch
her, but once she is lifted up by a hand being placed under her, she
remains quite quiet and does not snap even if one touches her head.
Although Hodgson partially tamed some young wild dogs, I do not
think that any amount of training would make this animal learn to
be gentle. Shyness and distrust of man, fierceness and currishness
combined, swiftness in snatching, tenacity in hanging on,—these
are her strong points. When she lays her ears back, she looks a
regular tyke, a truculent little skunk, meaner than the meanest
village cur; but when she erects her ears or turns them forward, she
looks more asa wild animal should. Her favourite position of watch-
fulness is lying down, with her head resting on or between her
forepaws, her large bat-like ears bent forward, and her bright eyes
keenly observing every movement. This position would enable her
to catch sound-vibrations well also. She sometimes climbs about on
her large basket, and shews almost cat-like agility in balancing
herself on the ledge. In short, she is essentially a wild creature.
In the adult animal, the senses of hearing, sight and smell must be
developed to an extraordinary degree of perfection, judging from
this immature specimen alone.
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, éc. 505
Mr. Blanford, following Jerdon, gives the Marathi names of the
wild dog as kolsun, kolusna, kolsa, and kolasrd, as_ variously
pronounced by the Marathas in different localities,* but neither
Jerdon nor he includes in the list of vernacular names of these dogs
the names by which they are known in Guzerat, viz., kdl, or kél-
hatta. The Vaséwas of the Tapti Valley call them 61. The
Guzerathi language, of which a very corrupt form is spoken among
the Bhils, Kolis, Naikdas, Vas4was, Diiblas, and other wild tribes of
the jungles of South-Hastern Guzerat, shades gradually into Marathi
along the frontiers of Khandeish, and possibly the word ké/ is the
same as the Marathi hold (ajar), a jackal (Guzerathi both (yin
and sold kholun), m which case kél-kutta would mean the jackal-
dog. This would be rather a good descriptive name, as the kél, like
the kéld, is shortish-legged, and of a reddish hue, and has a dark
tip to its brush. I would also compare with the name the
word iél-bhdlu, given in Hindustan to the so-called tiger-pro-
vider, the supposed jackal with the weird wild-dog-like cry
(see Blanford, p. 142). Indeed, it may perhaps be a question
whether this k61-bhdlu be always a jackal and not at times a solitary
kol-kuttd, which utters this unearthly wail, just as domestic dogs
sometimes moan so strangely as to have given rise to certain
notions of banshees and ghostly visitants. Bhdlw in Hindustani
means ‘a bear.’ What is its special sense in kél-bhdlu? Elliot
(quoted by Jerdon, p. 143) says that in the South of India
bhdlu is the name of an old jackal “ in constant attendance on the
tiger”; and the evidence that the “ tiger-provider” is a jackal,
seems rather strong; but as the tiger is nocturnal, I do not see how
the kél-bhdlu could have been identified beyond all doubt as a
jackal. On this point a friend writes as follows :—
“ Rice mentions the kél-bhalu as accompanying the tiger. I think
he saw one more than once. He certainly believed it to be a
jackal. It has always seemed to me that the term ‘ provider’ was
inverted, and that the jackal followed the tiger to pick up the
* In Molesworth’s Marathi Dictionary (ed. 1831, p, 221) I find :--“ AST sm.
A small wild animal, said to kill tigers by making water upon its tail, and spirting
it into the tiger’s eyes. This word is variously written: Alfsact, alsa,
RSs, Aleea, Aleeyat, &c.”’ Compare this with Jerdon’s and Blanford’s remarks.
806 TOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
crumbs, &c., &c. It would not be unnatural for the smaller
carnivora to follow the larger, in hopes of feeding on the remains of
the prey.”
“The idea we have is that, like pilot fish to the shark, the kédl-
bhélu acts as a kind of ‘ pointer’ and guide.”
On the 10th of May I obtained another wild dog. It was alsoa
female, one of a pack of eight or nine that I had come upon in the
morning when out for a stroll near my camp with a friend. I suppose
they were hanging about to find out what had become of the dog I had
shot. We had our terriers with us, and they gave chase to some-
thing amid the bamboos. Thinking they were after monkeys, we
whistled them back. They returned with unusual promptitude,
anda minute or two afterwards an extraordinary sound arose—a
weird bewildering noise—such as I had never before heard in the
jungles. I could not at first tell where it came from — it seemed
aérial, from the trees overhead as much as from the thickets
around. It lasted for nearly half-a-minute, and my companion
described it afterwards as ‘a kind of fiendish hysterical yapping,
in a shrill chorus, decidedly uncanny and all-pervading.” I asked
the young Vasd4wa, who was carrying my camera, what the noise was.
He answered: “kol!” At first I thought that they might be
attacking one of our dogs, and ran forward to the edge of a nullah,
where I caught sight of four of them near some pools of water.
A bullet made one spring into the air and fall over, but it picked
itself up almost at once and was off. They retreated slowly, keep-
ing well behind the bamboo clumps and peering back at us, but I
did not get another shot. My shikari said there were eight or nine
altogether ; I must have seen six or seven at intervals. I sent a
sporting sepoy on their track, and he returned later in the day with
another specimen, a female, but larger and heavier than the first.
As we were changing camp I could not get my spring-balance, but
judged her to beat least 5 lbs. heavier than the first one, which would
make her 35 Ibs. She measured 23 inches at the shoulder, but her
legs had been rather stretched by her having been carried slung on
a pole by the feet ; body from nose to root of tail 353 inches; tail
with hair 17, and without 15 inches; girth behind shoulder 19
inches. No white hairs at end of brush.
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, é&e. 507
These wild dogs are now very abundant along that range of hilly
jungle east of Baroda, from Pawagarh through Chhota Udepur,
Rajpipla, Sagb4ra, and the Surat and Baroda districts along the
Tapti. I remember seeing a pair of pups in captivity at Chhota
Udepur, about seven years ago; there was a pack said to number
fifteen about Champanir in March last, and they had cleared out the
game too; and I or my men saw or heard of at least half a dozen
packs in the Baroda jungles of the Tapti Valley last month. They
are exterminating the sambur ; we came on the remains of two hinds
that had been recently killed by them, and over mountains where
three years ago I had seen twenty-five or thirty sambur, I only saw
three this time, and round pools where in former years the tracks
of sambur were innumerable we scarcely saw a footprint. ‘The
wild pig are still plentiful, but seem to have packed into big
sounders for safety. I saw one sounder that had more than forty
pig in it—they made a tremendous clatter as they scampered into
the jungle from the fields in the grey dawn. The boars thereabouts
seem to grow fine tushes: here is a pair that measure fully 92
inches. My men said they had taken them from the remains
of a boar that had been recently killed by a tiger. The recent
killing I admit: the village shikari’s matchlock was, I suspect, the
cause of death. Besides I examined the skins of both the tigers
that resided in that neighbourhood, and could find no traces of any
recent conflict with the scythe-tusked boar. It is permitted some-
times here for us to mingle tales of the chase with more serious
matters of natural history, and [ ask to be allowed to spin out this
paper with a few extracts from my diary for May, 1892.
On the third of May, at 1-30 o’clock, khubber of a tiger came in
from a village about five miles from my camp. I set off at once, with
four followers, carrying the usual paraphernalia of guns, camera,
chagul,a rope for climbing into trees, &c. About a mile beyond the
village I met three of the chief trackers—sportsmen all of them—
with rusty matchlocks, and bamboo props for resting those antiquated
bits of gas-pipe on while taking aim. The leader said that three
other men were on the look-out, and that the tiger was asleep
in a chimp: (clump of bamboos) on a hillside, and was
quite unconscious of the attentions that were being lavished
508 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
on it. The jungle was too thick for a direct attack, so it was
decided that I should take post above it, over the ridge of the
hill, so as to command the approach to a ravine on the other
side, towards which the tiger would certainly make when disturbed
by the yells of men from the trees below and on each side. We
made a detour and had a very hot climb up the off side of the ridge.
The heat was terrific, and I referred several times to my canvas
chagul, which contained what I have found to be an excellent
jungle drink, viz., Montserrat limejuice and water, in the proportion
of one ounce of limejuice to at least twenty of water. Some people
would add a little sugar. Well, we got to the top of the long
narrow ridge, which was covered with rubbly stones and bamboo
clumps, with a few large trees at intervals—nice ground to shoot
across. There was a very slight breeze, and the intense heat seemed
good for business, as the tiger would not be keen on travelling in
such weather, and would make for the nearest cool place, which
would be the ravine that I had to supervise. There was a crooked
old teak tree with branches that seemed to offer a good stand, at
about fifteen feet from the ground, and into this I climbed, followed
by my gun-bearer with a spare rifle. I was able to stand firmly on one
branch and rest my arms on another—it is very seldom that one gets
a good stand or seat in a tree, and generally one is in torture
on such perches. The jungle-wallah, who had assisted in the
selection of the stand on the naka or pass. by which the tiger
would come, went off when he saw me treed, and then ensued that
wearisome and anxious pause When one thinks of all the chances of
failure: missing the shot, the tiger breaking back or wide, and
so forth. A very long pause it seemed, but the wily men
of the woods were all stealthily taking up well-chosen posts
in trees, encircling the sleeping tiger from below. At last the
shout arose, and from a wizened old man ina tree on my left
front, on the tiger’s side of the ridge, such frightful yells came that
1 concluded the tiger was breaking towards his side. This was so,
but he turned it up hill, and it came over the ridge about 80 yards
from me, and down at a good trot straight towards me. [I let it
come, and when 18 yards off I fired. To my surprise, the tiger
fell over at once—never rose again, but rolled forward into a little |
NOTES ON WILD NOGS, ée. 509
channel in the ground, and was brought up against a charred old
trunk of teak-wood. It seized the nearest branch and bit furiously
at it, and clawed it and bit it again and again, roaring and growling
horribly. My shot had caught it below the wither, grazed the
spine and gone down between the shoulders towards the heart,
paralysing it from the shoulders back. I shouted to the men that it
was killed, and when it heard my voice it turned its head over and
glared at me and snarled and struggled to rise—perhaps it was just
as well that it was not able. It still seemed lively enough so I gave
it aacther shot, which smashed up the spine still more, and then I
got down, and with rifle in one hand and camera in the other, walked
up to fifteen feet of it, and took its picture while it was still alive and
snarling at me, shewing its teeth in impotent fury.
It was an unusually large tigress, 107$ inches from nose to tail,
tail being 36 inches. The skin measured 123 inches when pegged
out. The hard bit of teak-wood had a number of holes in it nearly
an inch deep from her bites. |
On the 8th of May I met another tigress, and had quite a lively
time before I held an inquest on her remains. She gave rather a
hard shot at about fifty yards, cantering through scattered bamboo
jungle. My first shot hit her hard on the foreleg, about six inches
too low, and my second smashed on a bamboo, only a splash of lead
cutting her off foreleg. She roared two or three times when hit,
which tigresses very rarely do, and went on, up and down hill, and
up again, nearly three miles in a circle. We followed the trail,
which was very plain as she bled freely ; four men tracking and I
holding my rifle at the ready through thick low jungle—very
exciting it was, as she might have pulled up anywhere, and we
could at times barely see twenty yards ahead. The trail gradually
became thinuer, but led towards a cave on a spur, and we made a
detour so as to come on the rocks from above. She was not there,
and we had lost the trail, but a tiny speck of blood on a stone near
where we were standing shewed that she had come up the rocks.
Yor nearly half an hour we could find no trail. The ground was very
hard. At last after several casts round on a plateau near the hill top
we recovered it. It led towards the highest ridge of the hill, and
the men said there was another cave there. More blood stains on
67
510 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
bamboo leaves and an occasional footprint guided us up to the rocks.
We got above the cave and threw down stones. There was an
aperture in the rocks above where the cave was said to be, and I
threw down a cracker which fell right into the cave and popped and
sputtered splendidly, finally setting fire to a lot of dried leaves,
which blazed up with a roaring sound and sent clouds of smoke
through the cave. Still no sign of the tigress. The men all
agreed that she had gone on, and went down the rocks to where
the trail had last been seen. I chmbed down im front to
have a look at the cave. The rocky cave was certainly empty,
but lower down was an earthen burrow beneath the rocks.
I got on my hands and knees and peeped into it. ‘There she
was, barely three yards in front of me, glaring out of the gloom,
and crouching as if to spring! Her face was resting on her paws: a
horrible devilish face it looked. The next few seconds were critical.
I thought “ steady does it,”” and quickly steadied the riffe on her.
As I aimed she gave a growl, and firing into her opening mouth
I executed a strategic movement outwards and to the right. This
evolution was not skilfully performed, as in attempting to beat the
record I fell just outside the cave, and thought for a moment that
I was going to verify the opinion that one feels “just as usual
while being chawed up.”” However, I picked myself up double quick
and reloaded, but could not see her in the cave through the
smoke. When it cleared off, my shikari, who had joined me with the
second rifle, said: “I see one eye.” After a little while I made it
out and fired again, hitting her exactly in the centre of the eye—
scoring a tiger’s eye in fact—and smashing one side of the face.
I thought she had had enough, but when after a few minutes we
again looked in, the other eye still glared bright and green out of
the darkness. She had retreated a few feet further into the cave—
and I had to give her a finisher in the forehead before I felt it safe
to let a man goin. We soon had a rope round her neck and hauled
her out. She measured 8 feet 1 inch from nose to tail (tail measured
32 inches). She was in very fine condition, and the post mortem dis-
closed four little tiger cubs about 8 inches long each. We found that
my first shot in the cave had blown away her right upper canine ;
the fragments of the bullet had smashed some incisors and
NOTES ON WILD DOGS, éc. oli
premolars, cut the tongue badly, raked the palate, and gone down the
throat somewhere. It was a case of “ first come first served,” and
fortunately my little express was too quick for her ; but I hope never
to have to seek the bubble reputation quite so literally in the tiger’s
mouth again. It was too close a thing to be altogether pleasant.
While tracking this woundedtigress we came on afemalefour-horned
deer that she had killed and nearly devoured that morning; and
this leads me to say that Mr. Blanford has united the two varieties ot
four-horned-deer—those with long anterior horns and those with
short—into one species. I have shot about thirty of these little deer at
various times (I got four last month), and [ have never succeeded in
getting a head in which the anterior horns reached half an inch in
length. I have shot them in the Gir Forest and in the jungles of
Guzerat and the Panch Mahals generally from the Tapti nearly up to
dur. In this part of India, so far as I know, the anterior horns
are invariably very small, mere wart-like excrescences in fact,
and I mention this point to invite members of the Society to
record the measurements of horns of four-horned deer shot by them,
with localities, se as to ascertain, if possible, the distribution of the
two varieties. A friend at Baroda has now a young male four-
horned deer alive. Its posterior horns have grown three-quarters of
an inch long, but no trace ot the anterior horns can yet be felt.
This deer came from near Godra. I have taken up so much of your
time that I will now conclude after briefly mentioning a curious bit
of snake-lore that I heard last May. When descending a hill one
evening, a large black cobra sprang up about two feet from me,
spread his hood in a threatening way, and then glided off, stopping
twice and rising with hood outspread. I cut him nearly in half with
a rifle bullet. When the men came up and I told them to stretchhim
out to measure him—he was five feet eight inches exactly—one of
them pointed to his tail, which was blunt and whitish, as if the end
scales had come off, and another said tome: ‘‘ That cobra has bitten
someman. The end of the tail always drops off when he bites any
one.” All the menseemed to be quite familiar with this curious belief.
It may be new to some of the members present, as it was to me.
In the Asianfor June 17th, Mr. H. B. Riddell mentions a similar
superstition about a supposed poisonous lizard.
INDIAN FLOWERS.
By SurcEoN-Masor K. R. Kirrixar, 1.M.S.,
Fellow of the Linnean Society.
(Eetracts from a Lecture delivered at the Sassoon’s Mechanics’ Instituie, Bombay,
on 28th Mareh, 1892.)
To us (Hindus) the uses of tiowers ave manifold. Their existence is wedded
with our own. Though no idolator myself now for the past quarter of a century,
there was a time in my early life when followmg the custom of my forefathers
I worshipped the gods and goddesses, the Lares and Penates of my paternal home,
with a profusion of flowers that the surrounding garden or nearest flower-market
could afford, before I began my daily duties. To the Ganpati, the god of Wisdoni,
I offered the scarlet Jaswan (Htbiscus Rosa-Sinensis); to Shival offered the cream-
white Kanchan (Bauhinia Variegata) and the purple Dhatura (Dhatura fastuosa) ;
to Vishnu I offered the Parijitak (Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis) and racemes of Tulsi
(Ocymum Sanctum); to Maruti, garlands of Rii (Calotrepis gigantea); and you
my Hindu hearers who still choose to follow the faith and rituals of our fathers
are to this day deing the same. You are not wrong in thus following your faith
and offermg these pure unsullied gifts of Nature to your and to Nature’s God, if
you only remember that they ought to stir in you your noblest passions and lead
you on to appreciate what is absolutely pure and unsullied in Nature. To follow
up these floral offerings to the Hindu gods and goddesses, I may mention that
in the Navrdtra holidays the shrines of Lakshmi, Amba, or Durga are adorned
with lotuses of all colours and the flowers of Guljafri (Tugetes erecta). When small-
pox is raging in a Hindu house, we entwine the cradle of the baby stricken with
this foul disease with wreathes of Jasmin and leaves of Nim (Azardirachta Indica),
and propitiate the goddess Shitala, who is supposed to restore the baby to health,
with all the choicest flowers of the season. On all joyful oecasions and on occasions
of special thankfulness to our gods, we distribute flowers and sugar to our near
and dear lady friends and relations. When our dear ones depart this life, the
Jasmin interspersed with the leaves and racemes of Tulsi deck their mortal remains
as they are borne to the funeral pyre, their last dissolving place. No Hindu lady
that dies during the life-time of her husband leaves her home m death without
having her hair decked with the choicest flowers of the season as though they
were symbolical of that purity in whieh she leaves this world in prospect of joining
the regions above where what constitutes the impure is utterly unknown. Our
virgin bride too comes in for a full share of these serene emblems of purity. The
very agreeable custom of our ladies wearing fresh flowers in their hair is well
known to those who know our domestic habits. Every married lady considers it
her privilege and her prerogative to wear the flowers that the varying seasons
of the year produce. In the days of her widowhood she diseards this pleasure,
among the many things she denies herself or has to deny herself in obedience to
the national custom or on the assumption of the austerities of her altered life and
solitary existence. The husband gone, there is nobody to wear the flowers for,
INDIAN FLOWERS. 518
and she does not wear them. She considers that her privilege is gone for ever,
however much she may regret it. Thus, you will see how throngh the varied walks
of life and in the daily duties and pleasures of a Hindu home, flowers come in for
their share of attention and usefulness.
Let us now turn to the consideration of the structural peculiarities of the flowers
we commonly see in our fields and forests, gardens and green alleys. The size,
the form, the colour and the perfume of flowers at once mark them out, morpholo-
gically speaking, as some of the most striking products of the vegetable world.
To consider the interesting subject of the development of a flower—in the light
of its being a mere modification of the leaf, would be foreign to the scope of my
discourse this evening, but it may be stated briefly that the subject is one of vast
usefulness to a practical gardener in appreciating the formation of what are called
double-Howers where often we see nothing but petals where the stamens and even
the pistil are transformed into petals, as, for instance, in the Bat mogra (double
variety of Jasminum Sambac), the Tagar (Tabernemontana Coronaria), or the
Dalimba Gonda (the tufted male flower of Punica Granatum).
Of the flowers noted for their large size and conspicuous form, we have beautiful
illustrations in our Dilienia speciosa (Moth& Karmal) and Neluméium speciosum
(Kamal or Padma). Belonging to the class of water-plants producing bold
flowers we have also the white and crimson lotuses known as the Nymphea
Alba (Swetotpal), and Nymphea Rubra (Raktotpal), and the pale blue Nymphea
Cyanea (Nilotpal) which is probably the Nilophar of Arabian and Persian writers.
Thespasia populnea (our common Bhend) with its rich yellow flowers tinged inside
with deep crimson and Thespasia Lampas (Ranbhendi) with its rich orange flowers,
are conspicuous in our forests and hedges. The former flowers throughout the
year. It knows no seasonal change. Our common Saori (Bombar Malabarica) is
in flower now and conspicuous in our forests. The richcrimson of its bold
succulent flowers on leaflesss branches is striking in the extreme even to a distant
gazer on this our forest beauty. Ina few days more the Boab tree (Adansonia
digitata), a naturalized exotie from the South African coast, will throw out its
equally striking bold scarlet or white flowers. The large purple racemes of
Mucuna pruriens (cowhage) ; the rich copious panicles of Cassia fistula (Bahawa) ;
the bright dazzling scarlet and white spikes of Erythrina Indica (Paringé or Pan-
gird); and the dense orange fascicles of Butea frondosa may be grouped together
as our consummate forest beauties. Nor must we forget to include in this class
the more homely climber Clitorea ternatea (Gokarna) which adorns our hedges
and garden trellis-work with delicate blue and white flowers seated solitary or at
the most in pairs on their delicately formed parent, trailing over hundreds of
vards ata stretch, The well-known Ashoka of pristine and Puranic fame—
Saracca Indica (otherwise known as Jonesia Asoka) bears a small flower, but its
gorgeous terminal corymbose panicles of rich orange turning into bright red,
peeping through the densely-set drooping leaves varying from the deep green of
its older foliage to the sparkling delicate purple of its tender tops—mark ou this
B14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
handsome and hardy tree as a remarkable garden atid forest beauty. Then, again
our Tarwad (Cassia auriculata), Cassia Sumatrana so common in Bombay as a road-
side tree, and Cassia ferruginea growing beautifully in the Grant Medical College
gardens are remarkable for the large yellow or orange tinted panicles they throw
out when in full bloom. The Cassias as a class may be said to be the prevailing
and persistent beauties of our Indian floral worle. The naturalized exoties
Poinciana pulcherrima (Shank4sur) throwimg out delicate bright yeliow or orange
flowers on long green pedicels, and Poinciana regia (Gulmohor) throwing out
copious axillary and terminal racemes of bright scarlet flowers mottled with white
and orange in profusion, are well known in our gardens. They need but be
mentioned and you will be at once reminded of their exquisite beauty.
The Mimosas are a distinct class by themselves, bearing flowers in globular
masses of various colours and fragrance, well worthy of a detailed description here,
but I must again think of the limited time at my disposal. The Bauhinias are
worthy of special mention, as being noted for the beauty and variety of their
delicate flowers. Bauhinea tomentosa (Roxburgh) has a cream-coloured flower
pale sulphur-marked on the ventral aspect *‘with an oblong deep purple spot” at
the base or insertion of the petals. The flower is as delicate as it is pleasing to the
eye for the harmonious blending of itseolours. This I believe is the real Kanchan
of the Hindus. ‘‘ The vernacular names of B. purpurea and B. variegata demand
further inquiry ” says Brandis in a note to this genus in the Forest Flora of the
North-West and Central Provinces. I hope to furnish the results of this inquiry
some day before our Natural History Society. The larger-tlowered Bauhinea
Variegata with its rich show of purple tinged with cream and red entitles it im my
opinion to the name of Vana-rajah—the “ king of forests”—in preference to any
of the known and described species of the genus Bauhinia. The Rey. Mr. Nairne,
late of the Bombay Civil Service, who strikes me as one of the most scientific and
quietly working Botanists this Presidency has ever seen, has been lately making
special enquiries with regard to the correct native names of the Bauhinias.
“T find,” says he in a printed circular sent round to the members of our Natural
History Society, “some doubt as to which of the species of Bauhinia the names’
KAnchan, Dev-kanchan, and Wan-rajah belong to.” I have already specified the first
and the last, the second I believe to be the B. purpurea described by Roxburgh, the
Deva-kénchan of Bengal, a name I may say almost unknown in this Presidency, so
far as my information goes. Though as a tree B. variegata is nothing to look at,
and looks a half-starved irregular uncouth tree, ill-clad with foliage, when not m
flowers, it is a forester of marked beauty when its bold purple parti-coloured flowers
appear and conspicuously show it out in all its dazzling beauty as the “ king of
forests »—a name, I think, barring its miserable foliage, it richly deserves.
The flower of the pretty looking Careya arborea (kumbh&)—if you but watch it as
the sun rises, for it drops its numerous white pinkish stamens en masse soon after the
flower opens—is a conspicuous forest beauty on account of the congregation of its
succulent flower cups on its bald bold terminal buds. Izxora coccinea is another of
our forest shrubs, perpetually in flower and of marked beauty. They grow in
INDIAN FLOWERS. 515
persistent cymes and retain their bright scarlet hue long after the fruit has
fornred. ‘There are white, pink and yellow garden varieties of them. The two
former are small flowered and throw out numerous close-packed umbellate cymes.
Among the denizens of our fields we have yellow-flowered Argemone Mexicana
(Feringhee dhaturé), which, though of American origin, grows almost as wild as
any native weed. It is particularly found on the banks of tanks and ditches. Itis
abundantly in flower now, and will continue to be so till the end of the hot
weather. C/leome viscosa (Kanphuti), a pubescent sticky weed as the name indicates,
bears beautiful yellow flowers. It infests our gardens, fields and way-side retreats
during the rains. Gynandropsis pentaphylla (Mabli) with its delicate terminal
racemes changing from white to pink, from pink to purple from day to day, marks
this garden plant as one of intense beauty. It flowers throughout the
rains. The Capparis horrida (Wagheti), which furnishes the people of the Konkan
with an edible fruit, throws out flowers which, from the arrangement of their
numerous filiform stamens and their delicate shades of white and pink colour, may
beclassed among the beautiful products of our bushes. The flowers are so numer-
ous that often the whole creeper is one mass of pink and white hair in spring.
The pink terminal panicles of Biva oreliana (kesri) shaded off by the rusty
petals is another of ourexotie garden beauties. The dense white and pink racemes
of the Lamarix Indica (Zio) are exceedingly pretty, though the flowers are
small. They are common in our river beds and in marshy places along water-
courses. Our Sida shrubs generally bear solitary flowers of large and small size,
but are conspicuous by the delicacy and beauty of their yellow tints.
The common Jaswan (Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis) with its single and double
flowers is a standing beauty of our gardens. It is never weary of flowering
from day fo day, regardless of seasonal changes. The colours which some of
the varieties of Hibiscus display are well worthy of special consideration, but I
must rest content with only mentioning their beautiful tints, viz, pale yellow,
pale pink, buff, deep yellow, pale purple and rich searlet, with or without ventral
markings of deep crimson. Mr. Framji Nanabhoy Davar of Tardeo has in his
garden twelve well-marked varieties which are distinct from the ordinary tinted
varieties I have alluded to. They are as beautifnl for their substantial petals as
for their gorgeous colours.
The flowers of Zizyphus rugosa (Toran) are very tiny—without petals, and
perhaps do not deserve a special mention here as flowers, but they are worthy of
passing notice on account of the exceptional length of their flower-stalk, which rises
in the air three or four yards high above the surface of the top foliage of the plant
and droops in an ample compound axillary or terminal thyrsus. Pongamia glabra
(Karanj) is just now throwing out its fresh tender foliage. In a few days more
copious drooping racemes of its white purple-tinted flowers will be thrown out to
add beauty to the ending days of our Indian Spring. The semi-globose male
flowers of Punica granatum, the favourite of our Hindu ladies, is another common
beauty of our gardens. It is worthy of mention as it is one mass cf densely-
516 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
packed bright scarlet petals without stamens or pistil. It appears to me to be
an example where the numerous stamens have been arrested in their growth and
converted into petals. Later on in May and June the Jambul (Syzygium jambo-
lanum) will blossom with its characteristic greenish flowers arranged in broad
panicled eymes and bearing innumerable small filamentous stamens. Let me not
forget the two garden beauties—the Lagerstremia regina with its bold erimpled
lilac flowers blooming in copious panicles, and the Lagerstremia Indica with its
smaller white purple or pink crimpled flowers—which are so much caltivated for
ornamental purposes. The male plant of Carica papaya bears abundance of cream-
coloured tubular flowers in long compound racemes. One pointis worthy of notice
with regard to this plant. Onthe male flowering pedicels occasionally there
are hermaphrodite or small female flowers, which bear fruit on long pedicels. The
female plant on the other hand never deviates from its feminine duty, and harbours
afemale flower in its axils, which seldom fails to develop into luscious fruit. The
fruit grown on the male pedicel is very much smaller than that on the female
plant. The flowers of GuljAfri (Tagetes erecta) of various forms and colours are
strongly scented but never used for scent-making. Often the lower classes, 7. e.,
villagers and kunbi women, wear wreaths of them in their hair. For other pur-
poses also they are much used by all classes of Hindus. They are used for various
ceremonials. Thus, for instance, wreaths ten or twelve inches long are worn on
either side of the forehead and around by tie Hindu bride and bridegroom when
they go through certain religious and domestic ceremonies prior to the actual
marriage ceremonial. Long garlands are also made—eight to ten feet long, ending
in a mango-sprig and hung on new year’s day in front of the entrance oor of all
Mindu houses—from the Goodi or silken streamers raised to greet the dawning year
on that auspicious day, or to mark the sense of joy on any other happy occasion.
T’o-n.orrow being the Hindu New Year’s day, you will see this in front of Hindu
houses in the town. Why this agreeable function has fallen to the lot of this,
exotic—for the plant is merely the French Marygold,—and why not to any other
equally or even more attractive flower, I cannot tell. It may be, perhaps, beeause
the flower is handy—perennially flowering, but being at its hest in the rainy season,
The Asclepiads furnish a few good examples of showy flowers. The curiously
crown-shaped purplish flowers of Colotropis gigantea, I have already referred to as
being sacred to Hanuman, the monkey-god. [very Saturday the devout follower
of this deity will present to the image a garland of Rooi flowers with a spoonful
or two of teel oil and shindur (red lead). The rich scarlet flowers of Aselepius
Curassavica capped with a bright yellow crown are to be seen in our gardens almost
as wild as any natural weed, though the plant is an exotic from the West Indies.
Holostemma Rheedii (Shirdodi) with its pink fragrant flowers, and Hoya viridflora
(Wirandodi) throwing out its pale green flowers in drooping umbels, form the
prevailing creepers of our forests and hedges. Let me not omit to mention the
showy orange-yellow petalled richly filamentous flowers of our common hedge-
cactus known as Phadya Nivdung (Opuntia Dillenit). Originally introduced from,
America, it has become so naturalized in this country as almost to be a rank wéed.
INDIAN FLOWERS. 517
Among the gentians, the flowers of Exacum bicolor possess much beauty. Graham
declares it to be “ worthy of the garden of Paradise.’ The purple tips of its petals
shine m marked contrast with its large white body arranged on the terminal
branches of its square herbaceous stem bearing showy leaves. The flowers of
the Bignonacee as a class are striking for richness of their colour. Here is a speci-
men of Waras (Heterophragma Rowburghii). Notice the tints marking the throat
of the white bi-labiate corolla varying from pink to crimson. The forest tree known
as Tetu (Oroxylon Indicum), bearing the large two-feet pod-like capsules so singular-
ly attractive, has a very large showy flower. It is dark crimson outside, cream-
coloured, thick velvetty inside, seated on a firm persistent calyx and mostly bloom-
ing before the outburst of the monsoons. The Pedalinee are well represented in
our country. The Teel plant (Sesamum Indicum), so commonly cultivated for its
rich oily seed, which form one of the staple articles of our commerce, hasa delicately
tinted bi-labiate flower only surpassed in beauty and depth of colour by its congener
Martyna diandra—the common Vichvi, which is noted for bearing large black
rugose seeds with sharp double-curved persistent hooks, not unlike the black-beetle
in appearance. The Convolvulacee—an order everywhere bearing delicate campa-
nulate or tubular flowers, and noted for their exquisite tints—are well represented
in this country. What more beautiful can you see in the floral world than the
purple-throated Argyreia speciosa (Samudra-shoka) peeping through its glaucous
leaves P What is more pretty than Ipomea pes-caproe (Maryada Vel) whieh trails
in profusion along our sandy shore, throwing out its crimson flowers only to. he
lashed by the tidal waves? The Ipomea Quamoclit (KAmalata), though an exotic
from America, is as delicate and charming a flower as one could set eyes on, whether
it be deep crimson or white, seated on a delicate climbing stem by the side of the
still more delicately-formed pectiniform leaves. Trace again the Nal plant,
Ipomea vitifolia, creeping profusely over the surface of our ponds and way-side
ditches with its bright rosy or purplish flowers standing erect over their watery bed.
You will wonder at this solitary instance of a convolvulus preferring to live and
thrive in a watery home. I must not here omit to mention how well the Thunder-
gias, viz., IT. fragans, T. alata, and T. grandigora, thrive under our Konkan sky.
A tiny representative of this order-—the Cuscata reflera known as Akashvel—
is worthy of special mention on account of its extremely small white
flowers borne in tufts, and more especially on account of tlie epiphytal
nature of the plant. Originally a seed-grower from the ground, it trails along
our bushes and hedges, and directly it finds another plant to support it, it
winds round its host, and by degrees abandons its subterranean connections.
Finally it becomes an absolute aérial grower without in any way damaging the
host, as far as I have been able to observe in our jungles. Among the Acanthads,
the flowers of Andrographis panniculata (Kreat) are insignificant, but prettily
marked on the throat with crimson lines. The Hranthemums also are equally
pretty in colour and delicate in structure. Let me not here fail to mention the
bluish- purple flowers of our common jungle weed Hygrophilla spinosa (Kolsunda)
glowing amidst whorls of dark dingy leaves and stiff long spines which disfigure
68
518 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
this plant. Acanthus ilicifolius (M4randi), one of our pre-eminently pretty salt-
marsh plants, not unlike the English Holly in its leaf, bears an exceedingly pretty
purplish-blue flower. Here is an illustration of it. The flowers of Strobilanthes
callosus axe equally lovely in the richness of their purple hue and strobiliforn:
arrangement of their showy pink bracts, Barleria prionitis is another of our
jungle beauties. It is also to be seen im abundance along our hedges aud
bushes. Popularly known as kordnti, the flowersare of varied hue from pale blue
to buff, and are of estremely delicate texture. The common Aboli (Justicia infun-
dibuliformis) is a favourite with our villagers and Bombay Hindu ladies who
weave the flowers into venis (garlands) for their hair though absolutely devoid
of any kind of smell. Their pink and light blue colour is, however, pleasing to
the eye, for I may add that pink goes very well with the dark glossy hair.
Beaumontia grandiflora, a gigantic creeper from Nepal, thrives well in our gardens,
throwing out large showy white flowers, 8-9 inches long, which are noted for
their delicacy and softness. Among the Verbenas the Teak tree (Tectona
grandis) claims our attention. The wood of the s4g is popularly said to be
worth its weight in gold, and itis said very truly, for the teak tree is univer-
sally acknowledged to be the unrivalled king of our timber trees. But it is its
bold inflorescence that claims our attention here. Its huge terminal compound
panicles rise hich in air and often remain standing even after the seed has matured.
The flower has no particular beauty, but the inflorescence is striking on aceount
of its dry persistent spongy woolly calyces which cover the hard nutty fruit like
inflated bladders. The light purple tiny flowered compound terminal panicles
of Vitee Negundo and Vitex trifolia (which both go under the name of Nirgundi)
are pretty when examined closely, though from a distance they are not attractive.
The scarlet flowers of L&l Chitrak (Plumbago coccinea) and the pale lavender-
coloured panicles of Plumbago Zeylanica are also striking for thei beauty and
delicacy. Among the Solanaceous plants, the largest flower is borne by an exotic
from Peru, Brugmansia candida. It is a grand garden beauty throwing out large
white drooping tubular flowers as much as even a foot in length. The white and
deep purple flowers, often double, of Datura fastwosa and Datura alba are also
noted for their large size. Let me not omit to mention the prickly strageling
weed of our jungles and marshy places, Solanum Jacquini (Kate-Ringni), which is
perpetually covered with beautiful purple flowers set off by the bright yellow
double-barrelled anthers characteristic of their order. Among the flowers of the
Nyctaginacee stand pre-eminent the flowers of Mirabilis Jalapa (Gul-bas). I do not
know if in the whole range of the flowering plants there is a single plant or species
which is capable of producing so many tints in the flowers of one and the same
individual, nay on one and the same branch. ‘Indeed there are no two flowers that
ean be called alike in their tints or petal-markings. Their colours are bright and
range froma white to yellow and ‘deep crimson, with all the delicate shades between.
They begin to open at 4 o’clock (and henee the plant is called the ‘4 o’clock plant ”’)
and fade the following morning. The plant is also known as the “Marvel of
Pern” in our gardens, but we may well call it the “Marvel of the World,” with
INDIAN FLOWERS. 519
equal felicity and propriety. The Euphorbias are very irregular in the formation
of their flowers. The floral envelopes are generally incomplete or inconspicuous,
very erratic in their formation and very ungainly in their appearance. There are,
however, exceptions to this. Poiusettiu pulcherrima is well known for its bright red
bold bracts ; there is also a yellow-bract variety of it. The bright scarlet dicho-
tomous cymes of Buphorbia splendens are also to be seen thrivingin cur gardens.
The long pendulous tufted racemes of the forest tree Petari (Trewia nudiflora)
are very effective. They flower in February when the tree is leafless. Perhaps
the Ricinus communis is the most showy in its floral display, especially the deep
crimson yariety of it seen in some of the Bombay gardens. Mr. Justice Birdwood
has introduced it into our University gardens. The flowers of the fig order are
shut up ina fleshy curved thalamus which forms our figs. We shall not disturb
their tiny flowers from their natural seclusion. It will only serve to expose their
utterly destitute condition, so far as floral envelopes are concerned. The five
varieties of Loranthus (Banda) I have come across have all very showy fiowers of
a mouth-formation which is peculiarly their own. Two of them are white, two
bright crimson or scarlet, and a small one very prettily orange outside. The
petal-tips curl backwards thickly marked with green and yellow. Among the
Apocynacee, Vinca rosea and alba deserve mention, as they flower throughout the
year, andare used by Mahomedans over their graves in Bombay. They are
known as Sadaphul, perpetual flowers. Among the Amaryllids the Crinum
Asiaticum ( var. toxzicaria—Nagdowni) has conspicous white flowers. Crinum
insigne is a pretty variety of it in the Thana jungles, richly marked with purple on
the outside of the petals. Among the Lily order there is nothing more showy in
the forests and along hedges than the gigantic trailer Gloriosa superba (Khadya-
nag) which throws out the parti-coloured creanulate petals of its bold flowers echang-
ing their hue from green to yellow, yellow to orange, and thence to bright scarlet.
This creeper forms the monsoon beauty of our jungles.
We next come to a class of Plants which are not only noted for the beauty of
their flowers, but are also remarkable for their fragrance. It is not to be supposed
they will be equally agreeable to all, nor indeed is it expected that what I call
‘delicately fragrant” will not be “ very strong” to others. What I do say, how-
ever, is this: that to any practical scent manufacturer our Indian flowers present
vast field of research and usefulness. Some of the flowers I have already
mentioned possess more or less smell, but those I am going to include under the distinct
head of “scented flowers ’” have a marked odour more or less agreeable. Among
the Magnolias. we have the golden yellow and orange varieties of Champak
(Michelia Champak) which are strongly scented, and from a distance remind one of
the Mignonette. Among the Anonacee we have the Artabotrys odoratissina
(Kala champa) smelling strongly of ripeapples and plantains. The scented representa-
tives of the Guttifere may now be seen in our forests in blossoms. Here I pass round
a garland of the yellow globular male flowers of Surangi ( Ochrocarpus longifolius,
also known as Calysaccion longifolius), They are highly scented and much
worn by our ladies in their hair. The smell of its congener Calophyllum
520 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
inophyllum (Undi) is not so marked, yet its flower is handsome. Here is a fra-
grant flower of Péerospermum suberifolium, which, with the flower of its con-
gener Pterospermum acerifolium, goes under the name of Muchkund. The
flower proper 1s white, but its fragrance is chiefly confined to its succulent ealyx
deep brown outsi:le, golden inside, which is longer than the petals, and covers the
whole corolla incompletely, splitting mto five parts as the flower matures. Its
fragrance is lasting, even when the sepals dry; the sepals are much worn by Hindu
ladies in their hair. The sepals are covered thickly outside with small brown hairy
glands which secrete the fragrant element. It is particularly worthy of the investi-
gation of perfume-manufacturers. Hiptage Madablota (Madhu-malati), a large
climbing shrub, throws out large terminal panicles of showy white and
yellow flowers with a shade of light crimson. The flowers have a delicate
fragrance. The beautiful rich crimsen flowers of Bilimbi (Averrhoa Bilimdt),
shooting out in panicles from the main stem direct, are possessed of the smell of
honey. The large cymose panicles of the pink and crimson coloured, small flowered
blossom of Averrhoa Karambola (Karmar) are not quite so fragrant, yet they are
not without the grateful odour of honey. The panicles are very showy. Murray’
Exotica, though not a forest plant, is still largely seen in our gardens. Its tufted
masses of white flowers are as graceful as they are fragrant; so are the bold deli-
cious flowers of the Pomelo ( Citrus decumana). The Bombay Malis have
recently taken to making venis (wreathes) of these for the Hindu ladies, by whom
they are much prized. These flowers have the delicate odour of the delicious
Neroli oil, which is manufactured in Hurope and Asia Minor from the flowers of
some of the equally odourous representatives of the Citron genus. Garunga
pinnata (Kakad) is mm flower in our jungles now. Its large spreading panicles,
with tiny yellow tubular flowers, have delicate fragrance and attract the attention
of the passer-by with their ample inflorescence amidst tender shoots of fresh
leaves.
Among the Meliacee the Nim (Azadiarachta Indica) bears small white flowers
on long slender pedicels, which have a mixed smell of honey and _ bitter
almonds. The purple white flowers of Melia sempervirens in copious panicles
are a garden beauty. They smell strongly of honey, hence the name of the plant.
Among the Anacardie the blossom of the Mango ( Mangifera Indica ) is the most
fragrant. Its characteristie honey-sweet odour, onee noticed, can never be forgot-
ten. The flowers are inconspicuous, but, when closely examined, display a delicate
purplish tinge. But the beauty of the blossom lies in the huge eompound panicles
thrown out by its long terminal shoots and the ample nectar the flowers provide
for the honey-making bees of our forests and gardens. The blossom of the Kaju
(Anacardium occidentale), originally a uative of Brazil, but now thoroughly natur-
alized almost to wildness, has come and gone. Here on this specimen you see
that the fruit is already forming. The fleshy peduncle, which is generally used as
fruit under the name of Kaju, is not the real fruit. The grey kidney-shaped
capsule you see hanging is really and truly the fruit and seed combined. The seed is
agreeable to eat and much used for eulinary purposes as Kdju gold. What is eaten
INDIAN FLOWERS- 521
as fruit is merely the fleshy, succulent juicy peduncle. Itis very attractive from
its bright red, orange, or yellow colour, but is acrid. The acridity is removed if a
pinchfal of salt is added and the juice squeezed out. But then the whole
pleasure of eating is lost. For, to some, with all its acridity, the juice is agreeable.
Our village boys use the fruit almost immoderately and without apparent. suffer-
ing; but I throw this hint for the benefit of those whose sense of taste would not
permit of the slightest acridity, no matter however agreeable the juice may
otherwise be. The flowers are prettily marked with crimson streaks and smell
strongly of cloves. The flowers of Spondias mangifera (AmbAdd) appear as
beautiful white stars when closely examined. Their odour is delicately sweet.
The tree is in blossom now in numerous stout erect compound panicles, shooting
from terminal leafless branches. Coming to the Leguminous order now, we
find many scented representatives in its three sub-orders. Divi-divi (Cesalpinia
coriaria), a West Indian exotic of recent introduction into this country, valued so
much for the copious tannin contained in its pods, is now one of our most flourishing
roadside plants. Its beautiful whitish yellow flowers in dense masses are deli-
ciously fragrant. The plant appears to me to be as worthy of cultivation for its
remarkably sweet odour as it is for the tannin it so abundantly furnishes. The
Acacias and Albizzias are mostly productive of more or less fragrant flowers of
white and yellow hue. But I must mention one from amongst them particularly-
It is the bright yellow globular flower borne by Acacta Farnecsiana, which we com-
monly call Kesurdi here. The smell of its flowers surpasses in sweetness and
persistence that of any of the other representatives of this order. The Rose order
I must pass by as it is well known to you. It would require a separate paper to
dwell on the beauties and fragrance of the many cultivated species and varieties of
the Rose we have been able to grow, thanks to our European flower-loving co-
workers in the field of practical gardening. Among the Lythracee, our common
Hena (Lawsonta alba) is a highly and presistently scented plant. The flower is
pale greenish-yellow and not much to lovuk at, but its large close-packed termina]
cymes throw out abundant flowers which fill the air with agreeable fragrance for
several yards from where the plant is growing. It isa hardy plant, well worthy
of being used more freely for garden and tield hedges. Among the Cornacee, our
Ankoli (Alangium Lamarckit) is noted for the fragrance of its fasciculate shreddy
white flowers. The tree is in full blossom now from head to foot. Leafless as
it appears at the present moment, it is none the less charming to the eye with its
ample blossom. Among the Rudiacce the most noted for its delicate fragrance is
the Anthocephalus Kadamba (Kalamb), the large globular yellow heads of which
are so striking to the eye.
The Gardenias also are variously scented, It may be observed, however, that
in the opinion of some the smell of Gardenia lucida (Dikamali) is not parti-
cularly agreeable, and I am doubtful as to whether it would not be proper to
class this under the head of offensive flowers. Its congener, however, Garde-
nia florida (Anant, or Gandh-Raj) is exquisitely fragrant. The softness of its
thick white petals marks it as a flower of great beauty in our gardens. Though
5292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
originally a native of China, it thrives well in our climate, flowering abundantly
before and after the rains. Randia uliginosa (Pendhri) is another of our
familiar fragrant foresters. Blossoming in the hot weather, just before the
foliage is out, the pure white silver-shaped flowers of this hardy tree, set off
with bold yellow anthers peeping over the white frills of hair guarding the
throat of their tubes, produce an effect which is exceedingly striking as they,
open their buds in the early hours ofthe morning. Among the Sapotacee-
Achras Sapota, known as the Chiku—a West Indian exotic which furnishes us
with a deliciously luscious fruit—has a fower not unlike that of the Bakul in
appearance; but the noteworthy point about it is that it has the odour of the
Kashew Nut oil. The flower of Bakul (Mimusops Elengi), popularly known as
Ovalé, is highly prized for its lasting fragrance by Hindu ladies, who use
garlands of its deciduous corollas in their hair, White, when fresh, the corolla
soon turns brown and crisp, and is extremely loth to part with its delicious
honey-odour. It has literally to rot before the very last atom of its fragrance
departs from it. I know of no Indian flower which is so proudly and justly
tenacious of its deliciougodour. Thirty years ago, Pears, the pre-eminent soap
maker, used to manufacture a scent named ‘‘ Wood-violets,’”’ which always used
to remind me of the Bakul of my native land. He has years since ceased to
manufacture such ascent, much to my regret. J hope some lover of scents
preserves this gift so richly promised to mankind in the Bakul by immorta-
lizing it in a spirituous extract of charming delicacy. Among the Composites
we have the Spheranthus Indicus and several species of Blumea (Bhamburda),
and Artemisia (Downa) which produce the characteristic flowers, indicative of
their order, and partake of the strong smell so common to each genus. The
tender tops and leaves of the last genus are worn by ladies in their hair. Nor
is the Chrysanthemum with its varied hues of white, yellow, and saffron denied
this high honour of being a flower of domestic importance. The Shewanti, as
it is called, is essentially a cold weather plant—a regular visitor of Christmas,
as in the colder climate of Europe.
Among the Oleacee, the Jasmines are the most noted in this country and
largely represented. They are as follows (all highly scented) :—
1 Jasminum Sambac (Mogra). Besides the ordinary double petalled creep-
ing Mogrf, there are three other distinet varieties—(a) The compound
flower, known as Batt mogré; (b) the Madan-ban (Cupid’s arrow),
bearing a highly fragrant bold flower, the petals of which are often over
an inch and-a-half in length; (c) the Kasturi mogra, a smaller flowered
variety. The odour is delicate and partaking of the smell of the
musk faintly; (d) there is also the Poona variety known as Motya
moera.
2 Jasminum grandiflorum (Chambeli). This is a pretty flower delicately
marked pinkish or light crimson on the back of the petals.
3 Jasminum officinale (Sayali)-
4 Jasminum auriculatum (Jooi).
INDIAN FLOWERS. 528
5 Jasminum arborascens, variety Latifolium (Kusari or Madhavi). This
and the following are wild in our jungles and hedges.
6 Jasminum hirsutum (Syn. J. pubesceus), Roxb. (Kund).
7
8 Jasminum glandulosum (Van Jai). This is a climbing shrub culti-
vated in gardens from the wild variety. Faintly odourous ; flowers showy.
Jasminum angustifoliu m(Ran Moegra).
All these eight varieties are white. There are two other fragrant varieties
which are yellow, viz.:—9. Jasminum aureum (Don.) ( Piwli Jooi), and
10. Jasminum revolutum (Piwli chambeli).
All these varieties of Jasmin, except the last two which are not very common,
are great favourites with our ladies. To the Hindu mind the flowers of
Jasmin represent all that is the sweetest and loveliest ina Hindu home. See
the little girl, the darling of her mother, decked from head to foot with costly
ornaments of silver, gold and pearl—borrowed, if not possessed—not on any
holiday or special occasion, but in the seasons when the Mogra, the Jai, the
Jooi or the Chambeli is plentiful: the little darling’s head is covered with
a skilfully woven cap-like wreath of these flowers, of Sayli particularly ; her hair
let down on the back in a solitary plait, which is tastefully decorated with
rosettes and stars of artistically woven flowers of Mogra or Jooi intersnersed
with petals of the scarlet pomegranate flower. T’o a mind that would look at
this decoration with the eye of love, it gives satisfaction. The child thus
adorned, sweet in its child-like simplicity, is made sweeter still—nay, more-—
it looks happy and contented from this special mark of parental regard! Are
you thinking of the young bride and bridegroom about to be united—not of
their own secking—in the indissoluble tie of Hindu wedlock ? Even there the
Jasmines lend enchantment to the scene. Long wreaths or garlands of
thickly studded Jasmines, falling in rich profusion from head to foot, and circling
round the head, sdorn the marrying couple as they stand before each other
about to be made one in body and soul! While the priests are chanting the
bridal hymns and solemnly invoking the blessings of their household gods and
goddesses, fragrance fills the air. Wearing the same garlands the bridegroom
leads his young wife to his parental home. Could the couple be old enough
to appreciate these sweet yet simple decorations at a time of the utmost
happiness in human life, they would look upon the Jasmines with the same
devout sentiment which naturally attaches—perhaps in a more appreciable
manner—to the bridal orange-blossoms of our more advanced Western sisters.
‘** More advanced ” I say deliberately, for they are decidedly so in age and
culture, and in consequence more advanced in the appreciation of the respon-
sibilities of a wedded life. Turn again to the custom of the Hindu ladies of
honouring their lady-visitors (barring the unfortunate widows) with the
present of a veni (wreath) of flowers on marringe occasions, and even on
ordinary friendly visits. The hostess with her own hands puts on the vent
over and around the back hair-knot of her lady-guest. Not to do this is
understood as tantamount to disregard, if not actual disrespect; and there 1s
524 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
often to be seen a hypercritical lady-guest remarking that such and such
a lady-friend of hers did not present the customary vent to her on such and
such a domestic ceremonial or even on the occasion of an ordinary friendly
visit. Judging from the importance attached to such genial exchange of
flowers, it is not to be wondered at that at times zntentional departures from
what appears to me to be at once a noble and gratifying custom, are resented
in no unmitigated terms. No Hindu sits before his idols in solemn worship of
them but has a trayful of flowers for his gods and goddesses. On certain
occasions as much as even a lakh (I mean numerically, a hundred thousand
flowers) are heaped upon an image, as the humble offerings of an anxious
worshipper asking a special blessing from his deity.
The flowers of the Apocynaceous order are as a class more or less delicately
scented. They have the smell of the bitter almond. Our white-flowered jungle
shrubs of Holarrhena antidysenterica (Pandharé kuda), Wrightea tinctoria
(Kali kuda), Wrightea tomentosa (Kalé Indrajava), and Nereum Oleander of
ievery colour andform, crimson, white, pink, cream-coloured, single or double, al
partake of the fragrant odour characteristic of this order. The milk-white
blossom of Carissa Caranda(Karwand), the flowers of which resemble Jasmin,
partakes of the odour of that flower. Here is a stout sprig of Plumeria
acutifolia (Khairchampa) in my hand. See how its thick terminal leafless
branches throw out the flowers in large showy compound cymes of purplish-
crimson tinge; with the bold twisted white corolla shining softly yellow inside
n the profusion in which you see the flower openor in bud, the effect is
striking in our jungles and gardens. A tree or two near the bedroom window
will suffice to fillthe whole room with a delicious fragrance as the flowers open
in the early hours of the morning, welcoming the rising sun whose tender rays
set off the golden splendour of their lovely bloom. Let me not omit to
mention the fragrant flowers of Tagar (J'abernementana coronaria), which, with
its white long-crimpled dense petals, is an exceedingly pretty flower blooming
throughout the year. In the Borage order the blossom of Cordia myaa
(Bhokar), thrown oat in copious terminal and lateral cymes of tiny white
flowers, is delicately fragrant. The tree is in full bloom in January and Febru-
ary. Among the scented Bignonias, the showy flowers of the Spathodias
should find a prominent place; the Stereospermums also are noted for their
fragrance. But Millingtonia hortensis must be considered the most
exquisitely fragrant representative of this order. Though not a native of
these skies, it thrives well in our gardens and by our roadside, and throws out
large panicles of pure white delicate flowers from head to foot. Their odour
partakes of the fragrance of saffron and honeysuckle combined in an agreeable
manner. Among the Verbenas, the wild Lantanas of our jungles, varying in
colour from white to pink and deep orange yellow, are conspicuous for their strong
odour. Tosome it maybe too strong to bear. Our jungle Clerodendrons, how-
ever, are more delicate in their fragrance. Among the Labiates the flowers are
powerfully scented like the plants themselves. The Ocymum sanctum (Tulsi),
Ocymum gratissimum (Ran Tulsi), Ocymum basilicum (Sabja) are familiar
INDIAN FLOWERS. 525
enough. The odour of Pogostemone purpuricaulis (Pangla), so much reputed for
curing Phursa-bite, is overbearingly strong. But the most delicately scented
representative of this order is the Pach—Pogostemone Patchouli. The flower
has found its way into the laboratories of European scent-makers who send
us out a delicious essence under the name of Patchouli. Among the Zingibers,
the beautiful flowers of which are more or less scented, we have the Sona-takka
(Hedychium flavum), the delicate flowers of which are much valued by our
ladies for their hair. Of the Orchids we have only two or three scented
varieties around Thana. Of many others in the Deccan I do not know much
from personal experience, so I pass them by. Last but not least among our
scented plants is the Pandanus odoratissimus (Kevada). We have the pale
yellow and bright deep golden varieties of the bracteal coverings of its branch-
ing staminal inflorescence in which lodge the whole fragrance of the plant. Its
profuse pollen also partakes of their strong odour. The bracts are much worn
by our ladies in their hair. The avidity with which a Hindu lady flies to them
is unsurpassed by any they display in the use of even the most fragrant of our
Indian flowers.
T now come to the description of our edible flowers. They are not many.
The large thick white flowers of Agati grandiflora (Agasta), some of them
tinted red, though smelling of honey, are perhaps mawkish when cooked as
curries. Cutlets are made of them also—minus the meat. The white flowers
of Moringa pterygosperma (Shegat) also are similarly used. I do not think
they are agreeable to eat, but some like them ; others use them because they
can get nothing better. The flowers of Tamavindus Indica, tinted delicately
brown or orange, with crimson spots, are also used for culinary purposes.
Mixed with the tender red tops of the freshest off-shoots of the season, the
flowers are bruised between the palms of the hands and dried in the gun.
They go in this shape under the name of Méskiét. This compound is used
either fresh or dried. Cooked in butter or teel oil with grilled onions and
flavoured with salt and red pepper, the dish is agreeable. Its acid taste has
been considered appetizing. The large substantial but fragile bright
orange flower of Cucurbita maxima (Dangar), especially the male
variety, is also used for curries with tamarind palp and _ cocoanut
milk. The flowers of Bassia latifolia (Mahuva or Mowrah), which furnishes
the Abkari world with the celebrated Mowrah liquor, bears fleshy cream-
coloured flowers which are remarkable for their sweetness from the various
saccharine substances the petals contain. The petals are united into a thick
tubular corolla, and when dried look like raisins. The corolla is deciduous
and bears with it numerous filaments capped with anthers. The dried
flowers are said to be eaten uncooked in many parts ofthe Konkan. But
this is very rare. They can never be eaten in large quantities. They certainly
are not the staple food of the people here, as it is somewhat boldly asserted.
The flowers of the Musa sapientum (Kel) and Musa ornata (Chawai), which is
the beautiful wild plantain of ourjungles, are also used for curries and cutlets.
69
526 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
The jungle variety from the larger proportion of the salines ib contains makes
more palatable cutlets. The best time to use the flowers is after the spadix
has formed the plantains from its earlier flowers and left the final close-packed
crimson spathes in a tuft at the apex of the flower stalk, several inches
beyond the already formed plantains. This special tuft is of no farther use
for developing plantains, and if left on the stalk, by degrees opens, spathe by
spathe, and its non-fructifying flowers fade and drop off day by day. No better
use, therefore, could be made of this remnant of the flower-stalk than by
using it for culinary purposes. The panicles of small white flowers thrown by
the Helmia bulbifera (Karind&) in abundant beautiful pendulous tassels in the
rainy season are also sold in our bazaars. These flowers also are used in
curries. The pink succulent mucilaginous spikes of Aloe vera ( Korkand)
—known by our people as Shelar—are also used in curries. The mucilage
may be soothing and agreeable to some stomachs. The scapose spathe and
the tender spadix of Amorphophallus campanulatus make a good curry if
cooked soon after the flower stalk shoots out of the magnificent tuberous root.
The spathe and spadix of the Pythonium Wallichianum (Shewla) of yet more
delicate texture, so abundant in our forests justbetore the outburst of the
monsoons, are also similarly used in curries when fresh. The fruit of Garuga
pinnata or Kékudis sold withit. Ifthe Kakud is mixed with the Shewla in
curries, much of the acridity of the plant is lost. The acid fruit of Bilimbi
(Averrhoa Bilimbi) is also boiled with it to reduce the acidity. The acid
Potassium Oxalate, which the Bilimbi contains, helps, I believe, in destroying
the acrid principle of the plant. Both the Suran and Shewla& have to be used
with caution, as sometimes thew acridity irritates the throat to an injurious
extent. The flower-heads of the common Onion are also used under the name
of Powada in stews. They are agreeable. The stalks are delicious when not
too old.
We next come to the class of flowers which supply us with some of our dyes.
Chief among them we have the petals of Butea frondosa (Palas), the dye of
which is used during the Holi Holidays. Then we have the Carthamnus
tinctorius (Kardai) ; its bright orange or yellow corollas are largely used under
the name of Kusumba for makinga rich dye. The fiowers of Pomegranate
are also used for making alight red dye. The bright scarlet tubular flowers
of Woodfordia floribunda (Dhaiti), which are common in our jungles, is used for
dyeing silk. The rich orange-coloured tube of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, which
shines in marked contrast with its pearl-white corolla, affords a brilliant dye
of orange, which is, however, not lasting. The familiar saffron, though not of
Indian origin, is also a floral product, being the dried stigmata of Crocus
sativus. It is worthy of being mentioned here, as very often spurious saffr on
is sold in our bazaars, which, instead of being the parts of the female element
of the Crocus, is made up of the dried stamens of Poineiana puleherrima so
common in our parts. The rich orange buds of Surangi mentioned before are
largely used for dyeing silks.
INDIAN FLOWERS. i 527
Waving thus far engaged your attention in the amenities of our floral world,
iet me for a moment crave indulgence to a brief review of what is disagree-
able er offensive in our flowers. The scarlet fiowers of Sterculia guttata
{Gold&r), the white flowers Stercalia fetida (Deodar of Western India), and the
small greenish-yellow flowers of Stercelia urens (Kandol) are well known for
the edour ef human ordure they emit wher in blossom. The long small
yelluwish-white flowered spikes of Terminalia Chebula ( Hardi) and 'ermézalia
belerica(Yelya or Behda) are equally offensive. I cannot omit to mention here a
remarkable incident that happened to me in Thana some years ago in connec-
tion with the odour of Yelya.
The Thana Military Hospital is close to where the Assistant Judge of Thana
used to hold his Court. He was troubled with foul smells which he thought
emanated from the backyard of my Hospital. Very naturally he applied to
the Municipal authorities to put a stop to the foul smells. In due course, as the
sanitary adviser of the Municipality, the papers were passed on tome. I was
satisfied that the foul smeil did not proceed from the Hospital. For some time
it was a puzzle to me to find out the source of the offensive odour, fer the odour
did pervade the compound of the Court. Closely examining the compound,
I came under a leafless tree with umbellate spikes of white flowers. The smell
being particularly bad under this tree, I hada few of the flowering tops removed
fromthetree. A senseof triumphovertook me, for I thought I had atlast
hit upon the fons et origo mali. I had a few of the branches sent to my friend
the Assistant Judge, who was soon satisfied that the offensive element was in his
own compound! What do you think it was?—It was the Terminalia belerica
When the blossom ceased and the purplish-tinted foliage came
forth, all cause of complaint vanished, and every one was satisfied, and I had
my first experience of the offensive odour of Yelyaé. Ruta graveolens is
in flower !
another of our offensive plants, through and through smelling of rancid
cocoanut oi], foliage, flower and all. The yellowish terminal panicles of Mappia
fetida are also said to smell offensive, thus partaking of the plant. The plant
is known as Ghanerd. JI have not seen it. But Mr. Whitworth of the
Bombay Civil Service told me two years ago he knew the plant to be distinctly
what its name indicated. Brandis says the flowers of our common Bor,
Zyziphus jujuba, are somewhat fetid. I take leave to differ from such a high
authority in Botany—and from one who is always very accurate in his state-
ments and observations. Ido notthink the blossom of Bor has the character
he mentions. The bold, beautifully pink and white corollas of the flowers of
Kumbha (Careya arborea), so common in jungles, have a very unpleasant odour
as they bloom in March and April. The smell, however, is not a long-lasting
one, as the beautifully filamentous corolla falls within afew moments of its
opening. But the most offensive odour I have ever experienced in the blooming
of a flower, is from the specimen of the bold inflorescence of Suran I have placed
before you. You see here a full-blown spadix surrounded by a large purple
sheathing spathe with a showy erenulate border. The spadix bears stout
598 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
prominent crimson pistils in ample rows on the lower third of its globose flesh y
body; above this female element are the yellow staminal bodies in equally
ample rows with their anthers discharging their copious deeper yellew pollen;
this male portion occupies the middie third of the flower-stall. ‘he upper
third of the spadix is conical, erimpled and of deep purple colour. Now let me
tell you, although the whole of this arrangement is exquisitely beautiful im
colour, when tke fiower-stalk matures you ean have no idea how offensive the
plant is. I had hitherto no knowledge of the fact that, at the time for the
pollen to escape, the whole spadix literally smells like a rotting carcass.
I noticed it in this plant in my own studio. One evening on entering my room
T smelt what I thought was a dead rat. As I neared this plant on my table,
I found to my horror that the smell emanated from it, and that there was a
swarm of blue-bottles over and around it. Now you know that these
creatures love the decaying carcass. Here was an object as deeply black as a
decaying elephant emitting the odour of rotting organic matter. Why should
they not he attracted by it ? I remembered at once that I had read some-
where to the effect that the blue-bottles and other carcass-fiies seek flowers
bearing the colour of decaying animal matter, and that at that moment I was
realizing the fact. The offensive odour lasted three full days. Of course
when I first discovered the smell, I had the plant removed to a lower room.
Every day I had it brought to my studio, and the moment it was left to stand
near an open window the flies swarmed over it and deposited their eggs,
which if I had allowed to remain would have filled the spadix with maggots.
After three days the pollen was thrown out in abundant frills from every one
of the anthers, and then the flies disappeared; and now you observe there is
hardly any smell you would call offensive. Such is the history of the pollination
of this curious specimen of inflorescence among flowering plants. The spadix
of Shewld (Pythoniwm Wallichianum) is equally offensive as the male and
female organs mature.
A review of flowers, however brief, would be incomplete if the conditions
necessary for their growth and development are not considered. The considera-
tion of these conditions is all the more necessary inasmuch as we require no
hot-house. In fact, the country is a veritable hot-house in itself. I shall there-
fore make a few observations on the essential condition of the growth of our
flowers. Flowers are produced when the sap is in a highly concentrated state.
It must be perfectly elaborated before the floral organs, such as the petals and
sepals, pistil and stamens, develop. Formed of such well-formed material,
though orginially were modifications of a leaf, the floral whorls as a body have
a higher organization and a higher state of existence which finally tends to the
formation and maturation of the fruit and seed, wherewith to propagate their
species and perpetuate their kind. It is now a well-established fact in vege-
table physiology that for such elaboration of the vital fluid of a plant, a suffi-
cient amount of sunlight is essential ; without it plants are unable to perform
their proper function, That sunlight is one of the essential conditions of the
INDNIA FLOWERS. 529
existence of plant-life, and pre-eminently of flower-life, is amply proved by the
fact that plants keptin a dark room look pale and languid, ill-formed and
ill-nourished. Keep them in a room where light is admitted through a small
window, the plants will invariably turn in the direction of the light. Under
a clear sky and bright sunshine, the flowers will be bright, deep-tinted, and
substantially formed. The fruit will be sweeter and more luscious. Place the
same flower or fruit under a cloudy or misty sky where the light reaches it in
a diffused and only in a partial manner, they will suffer in growth and be
poor in substance as well as in appearance. Years ago such a keen observer
of Nature as Humbold did not fail to appreciate the importance of pure light.
“Tf the vine,” said he, “(to produce drinkable wine ) avoids islands, and in
almost all cases proximity to coasts, the reason is by no means exclusively the
low summer temperature of such situations shown by the thermometer
suspended in the shade,—it is also to be sought in a difference which has been
hitherto but little considered, although known to be most actively influential
in other classes of phenomena—TI mean the difference between direct and diffuse
light, or that which prevails when the sky is clear and when it is veiled by
cloud or mist”—(Cosmos), There are some flowers, however, which require
very little light. Haldane, for instance, mentions a ground orchid (Anecto-
chilus) in the most shaded depths of the densest jungles in the mountains of
Ceylon, which, though it dreads light, is yet remarkable for the lovely tints of
its rich sap-green Or purple petals traversed by delicate golden and silvery veins.
Flowers have at all times and among all nations, nay among all kinds of
men, been objects of singular attraction. ‘‘ They seem intended,” says Ruskin,
“¢ for the solace of humanity. Children love them ; quiet, tender, contented, or-
dinary people love them as they grow ; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice
in them gathered. They are the cottager’s treasure ; and in the crowded town,
mark, as with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers
in whose heart rests the covenant of peace.” These graphic words of one of the
most charming word-painters the world has ever producd, can be applied to all
the nations of the earth, to whomsoever flowers display their natural beauty.
They not unfrequently suggest as Poet Wordsworth says :—
“Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
To the admiring eye of even such a mighty adorer of Nature as Wordsworth,
the meanest flower that bloomed was suggestive of enchantment and exaltation
far beyond the comprehension of human language. Well may it be so to every
student of Nature, however humble, for such is the ever-recurring beauty of
Nature that—
‘Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
“ Her infinite variety !”
PRESERVATION OF BIRDS AND HARMLESS WILD ANIMALS
IN MALCOLMPETH (MAHABLESHWAR).
The follewing correspondence has passed between the Government of
Bombay and the Bembay Natural History Society on the subject of the
preservation of birds and harmless wild animals in Malcolmpeth (Maha-
bleshwar) :—
No. 3186 of 1892.
GENERAL DEPARTMENT,
Bombay Castle, 8th September, 1892.
H. M. PHIPSON, Esa.,
HONORARY SECRETARY,
BomMBAY NATURAL History Soctery, BomMBAY.
Sir,—I am directed by His Excellency the Governor in Council to forward
herewith a copy of the Rules which the Municipality ef Malcolmpeth wishes to
be notified under Section 2 of the Wild Birds Protection Act XX. of 1887, and
to request that you will be so good as to favour Government with the opinion
of the Committee of the Bombay Natural History Society as to the terms of
the preposed netification—(1) as regards the birds and animals referred to, and
(2) as regards the periods of ‘‘ breeding season ”’ specified in the proposed Rules.
The principal birds at Mahableshwar are, I am to state, the Bulbul, Spurfowl,
Junglefowl, Paradise Fly-catcher, Blackbird, and Golden Oriole.
2. Iam also to ask whether the Committee would recommend any addition
to, or alteration of, the Rules, and to request the favour of an early reply.
1 have the honour to be,
SIR,
Your most obedient Servant,
C. G. DODGSON,
Acting Under-Secretary to Government.
The following Rules are made by the Malecolmpeth Municipality in aecord-
ance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Wild Birds Protection Act (XX.
of 1887)—and with Government Notification No. 921, dated 10th March, 1891,
published at page 239 of the Bombay Government Gazette, dated 12th idem,
Part I.—declaring the provisions of the said Section to apply to—
1. Sambur.
2. Deer, including Bhekor and Pisora.
3. Hares.
I. For the purposes of the said Act in its application to the Municipality of
Malcolmpeth— :
(a) ‘‘ Wild Birds”? mean all birds, excepting Wild Duck, Snipe, Quail, and
birds of prey (excepting all Hawks and Kites).
PRESERVATION OF GAME. _ 531
(b) The ‘‘ breeding season ” means, in the case of birds, from the lst January
to 31st December in each year, and with reference to animals other than birds,
to which by the Notification No. 921 aforesaid the provisions of Section 3
have been declared applicable in the case of—
- 7 uae Bhekor and bieors (From Ist October to 31st May
Oo.) ELATCS .. Bes fers Gee each year).
II. (a) Noone shall, within the limits of the said municipality, possess or sell,
during its breeding season, any wild bird or any such animal as is mentioned in
Rule I., which has been recently killed or taken.
(b) No one shall, during its breeding season, import into the said municipality
the plumage of any wild bird or the fur of any such animal as is mentioned
in Rule I.
III. (a) A breach of Rule II. (a) or (b) shall be punished with a fine which
may extend in the case of a first offence to Rs. 5 in respect of every wild
bird or animal possessed or sold in breach of Rule II. (a), or of which the
plumage or fur has been imported in breach of Rule II. (0).
(b) In case of a subsequent offence to Rs. 10 in respect of every such
bird or animal or the plumage or fur thereof.
IV. That these Rules shall, as regards all birds, be in force for a period of
five years.
6, APOLLO STREET,
Bombay, 8th October, 1892,
To
THE UNDER-SECRETARY to GOVERNMENT,
GENERAL DEPARTMENT, BoMBAY CASTLE.
Str,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 3186,
dated the 8th ultimo.
I have duly placed the copy of the Rules for the Protection of Birds, &c., in
the Municipality of Malcolmpeth, before the Committee of this Society, and
they are of the opinion—whilst fully concurring with Government that total
protection for five years will be extremely beneficial to the birds and animals
at Mahableshwar, and is much needed, they feel that representing a Natural
History Society, they cannot acquiesce in the definition of the ‘‘ breeding season”
laid down by Government in the case of birds from Ist of January to 31st of
December, and animals from the Ist of October to the 31st of May.
The breeding season for almost all birds at such altitudes as Mahableshwar
is between the months of April and September (both months inclusive) in each
year, whilst for animals such as Sambur, Bekri, the smaller Deer, and Hares,
the breeding season is principally as follows :—
Sambur ... rae me +s June to October.
Bekri us vee see .. January and February.
Smaller Deer... eis -» May to November.
Hares owe ose »» October to February.
532° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
With regard to Rule I. clause (a), defining the meaning of ‘“‘Wild Birds,” it is
observed that Hawks are protected. The Committee are of the opinion that
Hawks should not be protected, as they subsist to a large degree by preying
upon the smaller birds.
In conclusion, I beg to state that the Committee are exceedingly gratified to
observe that steps are being taken by Government to provide a close season for
the protection of harmless animals, game birds, and birds of plumage, during
the breeding season, and hope that the rules may speedily be extended to
other parts of the Presidency where the total extermination of some species is
threatened.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Yours faithfully,
W. S. MILLARD,
Hony. Secretary, Bombay Natural History Society.
No. 3985 of 1892.
GENERAL DEPARTMENT,
Bombay Castle, 29th October, 1892.
To
W. S. MILLARD, Esq,
Honorary SECRETARY,
Bomspay NATURAL History Society.
Siz,—In reply to your letter, dated 8th instant, I am directed to convey the thanks
of His Excellency the Governor in Council to the Committee of the Bombay Natural
History Society for their
Municipalities of Ahmedabad, Broach, Ankleshvar,
Karachi, Jacobabad, Larkhana, Kambar, Rato-dero,
Rohri, Ghotki, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Garhi Yasin, Tatta, am to state, with reference
Keti, Kotri, Sehwan and Bubak and Cantonments of
Belgaum and Karachi.
valuable suggestions. I
to the concluding para-
graph of your letter, that
rules have been framed under the Wild Birds Protection Act KX. of 1887 for the
Municipalities and Cantonments noted in the margin.
I have the honour to be,
SIR,
Your most obedient Servant,
C. G. DODGSON,
Acting Under-Secretary to Government. *
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE MAMMALIA OF INDIA.
To the Hditor of the Journal, “ Bombay Natural History Society,’ Bombay.
Sir,
In the Journal of the Society for the present year (vol. vii, p. 246) there is
a criticism of my ‘‘ Mammalia”’ in the “ Fauna of British India,” and amongst
other observations on the work, the critic ridicules the statement that the
great one-horned Rhinoceros (R. wnicornis) “ was common in the Punjab
as far west as Peshawar in the time of the Emperor Baber.” This statement
is said to be founded on ‘‘a lot of careless quotations, probably at second
hand, from an obviously bad translation of a probably corrupt manuscript.”
One quotation from Erskine’s translation of Baber’s Memoirs, the work thus
stigmatized, is appended (at second hand), and is declared to contain the
whole evidence.
The writer of the criticism has not been able to consult Baber’s Memoirs and
has been misinformed. The matter was fully explained by Mr. Blyth in the
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1862, vol. xxxi, p. 199. A reference
to Mr. Blyth’s paper is given in the ‘ Mammalia’ under Rhinoceros unicornis.
The passage quoted by my critic occurs at p. 253 of Erskine’s translation.
But at least two other passages in Baber’s Memoirs refer to the Rhinoceros,
Both were quoted by Blyth, but the most important of them which occurs at
p. 316 of the Memoirs is worth re-quoting. This paragraph occurs in Baber’s
general description of Hindustan, and of the animals, plants, &c. Amongst
the animals peculiar to Hindustan, the elephant is first described, then comes
the following account of the Rhinoceros :—
‘* The Rhinoceros is another (7.e., animal peculiar to Hindustan), This also
is a huge animal. Its bulk is equal to three buffaloes. The opinion prevalent
in our countries, that a Rhinoceros can lift an elephant on its horn, is probably
a mistake. It has asingle horn on its nose, upwards of a span in length,
but I never saw one of two spans. Out of one of the largest of these horns I
had a drinking vessel made, and a dice-box, and about three or four fingers’
bulk of it might be left. Its hide is very thick. If it be shot at with a
powerful bow, drawn up to the armpit with much force, and if the arrow
pierces at all, it enters only three or four fingers’ breadth. They say, however,
that there are parts of his skin that may be pierced, and the arrows enter deep.
On the sides of its two shoulder blades, and of its two thighs, are folds that
hang loose, and appear at a distance like cloth housings dangling over it. It
bears more resemblance to the horse than to any other animal. As the horse
has a large stomach, so has this; as the pastern of the horse is composed of
a single bone, so also is that of the Rhinoceros ; as there is a gumek in the
horse’s foreleg, so there is in that of the Rhinoceros. It is more ferocious than
the elephant, and cannot be rendered so tame or obedient. There are numbers
of them in the jungles of Peshawar and Hashnagar, as well as between the
70
5384 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
river Sind (Indus) and Behreh in the jungles. In Hindustan too they abound
on the banks of the river Sirwu (Gogra). In the course of my expeditions
into Hindustan, in the jungles of Peshawar and Hashnagar, I frequently
killed the Rhinoceros. It strikes powerfully with its horn, with which, in
the course of these hunts, many men, and many horses, were gored. In one
hunt, it tossed with its horn, a full spear’s length, the horse of a young man
named Makstid, whence he got the name of Rhinoceros Maksud.”
The other reference to the Rhinoceros in Baber’s Memoirs is at p. 292, where
an account is given of a Rhinoceros hunt close to Bekram, said in Erskine’s
. foot-notes to be Peshawar. The following brief extracts are sufficient to
shew that the animals seen and killed were Rhinoceroses, not deer :—
‘“« Himaitin (this was Baber’s son, afterwards Emperor) and those who had
come from the same quarter, never having seen a Rhinoceros before, were
greatly amused.” . . . . . “‘ This Rhinoceros did not make a good set
at any person or any horse.” . . . ‘I have often amused myself with
conjecturing how an elephant and Rhinoceros would behave if brought to face
each other ; on this occasion the elephant-keepers brought out their elephants,
so that one elephant fell right in with the Rhinoceros. As soon as the elephant
drivers put their beasts in motion, the Rhinoceros would not come up, but
immediately ran off in another direction.”
I think the above will suffice to shew that the occurrence of the Rhinoceros
near Peshawar in the early part of the sixteenth century rests upon sound
evidence. No one reading the above extracts can reasonably doubt that they are
truthful statements by a well-informed writer, and I do not think there is any
foundation for the idea that the translation was bad or that the manuscripts
translated had undergone any serious alteration from the original. Certainly
there is nothing in the quotations I have given to suggest either corrupt text
or mistranslation.
The above is a question of sufficient scientific importance to deserve correc-
tion, and I think it is a matter for regret that in this case and in some others,
my critic, who has not given his name, but who evidently has a considerable
amount of zoological knowledge, should have written more emphatically than
was necessary. I shall not attempt to reply to his criticism in detail, but I
should like to point out another instance in which I think he will find on
examination that he has overlooked the real facts.
He writes, ‘‘ Bosolaphus tragocamelus ’’— save the mark, is nothing but our old
friend Portax pictus, the Nilgai. The Maratha name Ruhi or fohi is
wrongly given as Ri-i, and a name, given as that used by the Gonds,
Guraya, cannot be universal, as Forsyth, an excellent authority, gives Rohi
as the Gond name in the Song of Lingo.”
Now if instead of Forsyth’s Lay of St. Lingo, which I should scarcely have
expected to find quoted as an authority for Gond names, my critic had looked
at the appendix to Forsyth’s Highlands of Central India, p. 469, he would find
in the valuable list of Hindi, Gond and Korkoo words there given the only
CORRESPONDENCE. 535
Gond name for the Nilgai to be Goorya, which is of course the same as Guraya.
Moreover, the Korkoo name given by Forsyth is Roi (without any /) and
Ru-i is given by Jerdon as the Mahratta name. It is quite possible that the
use of the letter 4 is liable to variation in Western India as well as in Southern
Britain.
There is another observation to be made on the sentence quoted. My critic
is very severe on my nomenclature ; he says that cemas is a misspelling (it is
spelt according to rules for the transliteration of Greek words that have
prevailed for nearly 2,000 years), and that Boselaphus is a mere barbarism.
That Boselaphus is a hybrid term is perfectly true, but surely it is a matter of
opinion whether such names should be rejected or not. Butitis not a matter
of opinion, but a simple fact, that the name Portax pictus which my critic
quotes as preferable, cannot possibly be used, unless, as he suggests with
regard to another of my nomenclatural delinquencies, ‘‘ we are to give up
the Latin Grammar bodily,” for the simple reason that Portax is undoubtedly
feminine.
London, November 18th, 1892. W. T. BLANFORD.
NOTE BY THE REVIEWER.
It is no more than fair play to admit at once that Mr. Blanford has fully
made out his case in respect of the Trans-Indus Rhinoceros; and is entitled
to the honourable amends hereby tendered to him. He is right in supposing
that the Reviewer had not Baber’s Memoirs before him. After months spent
in endeavouring to get at an English or Turki copy in India, the verification
of Mr. Blanford’s Statement had to be entrusted to a correspondent in Eng-
land, who, in the utter absence of any reference to book, chapter, or verse,
missed the valuable passages now quoted by Mr. Blanford, and sent extracts
of the very unsatisfactory passage already printed in the Review. After this
explanation and apology it would be most ungracious to go on sparring with
Mr. Blanford about vernacular names. But his remarks upon one important
Latin name require notice. ‘‘ Portax’’ is, as he says, certainly feminine. But
the reference to ‘ Portaaw pictus” as an ‘‘old friend’’ was correct, for it is so
printed at page 272 of Jerdon’s Mammals of India, (reprint), which is
the authority most accessible to the main body of our readers. The Reviewer
had occasion to observe that Mr. Blanford (in his heading) quoted “ picta”’
from this very page; and therefore gave ‘‘ Portaw pictus ” in inverted commas
to indicate that he thought himself more answerable for the accuracy of his
quotation than for Dr. Jerdon’s concords. The commas dropped out in
print, and as no reference to the book or the page had been given,
Mr. Blanford’s complaint of his Reviewer’s grammar was justified by the evidence
before him ; in a manner amusingly analogous to the Reviewer’s own miscon-
ception already disposed of. That leaves things ‘‘ pretty square’; but the
536 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
matter would be yet to be regretted if it had not brought Mr. Blanford into a
place where we should have been glad to see him long ago ; in the columns of
this Journal; furnishing us with information not to ourselves accessible. It is
to be hoped that more of the same may be to be had from him, and his anony-
mous critic, at any rate, will not complain of the ‘‘ emphasis” of any commu-
nication from him half as interesting as the present. Reviews and controversies
are not best written in butter, and mere mutual admiration would be much out
of place between writers who are, as such, public servants, answerable not
merely to each other, but to their employers and their readers.
REVIEW.
* Sport 1n SourHerRN Inp1A.
This, the latest addition to the records of Indian Sport, is a large
aud well-got-up volume, illustrated by many sketches by the author,
which shows that he was as great a proficient with his pencil as with
the rifle; moreover the book is very modestly written. Col. Hamilton
had an extended Indian service from 1844 to 1870, and being one
of the early pioneers of the Forest Department, had exceptional
sporting opportunities. The first chapter principally deals with
Antelope shooting and such like; one form of sport, namely, coursing
the fauns, does not commend itself. The second chapter is headed
Wolves; several instances are given of how wolves, before they
commence their hunt, seem to settle a plan of campaign, as an
instance:—‘“‘I saw two wolves; after about ten minutes or so, the
smaller of the two, got up and trotted off to the rocky hills, and suddenly
appeared on the ridge running backwards and forwards like a collie
dog ; the larger wolf, as soon as he saw that the antelopes were fully
occupied in watching his companion, got up and came as hard as he
could gallop to the nuw//ah ; unfortunately he caught sight of us and
bolted, and his companion, seeing something was wrong, did the same:
Now it is evident that these two wolves had regularly planned this
attack; one was to occupy the attention of the antelopes, while the
other was to steal up the watercourse and dash into the midst of them.
How did they communicate this to each other?” We have a very
graphic description of a mongoose and cobra fight ; after saying that
the mongoose erected its hairs till it appeared twice its proper size,
and that the cobra appeared to strike it several times, he gives, as an
explanation of the latter’s immunity, “Our little favourite killed
many cobras, and, I believe, never was bitten. * * I believe, also,
that its safety consists in the perfect judgment of the distance the snake
can strike, the increase of its apparent size, from all his hairs stand-
ing out at right angles, deceiving the snake, so that the fangs never
really touch the body of the mongoose, but only the hair.” A few
pages are given to Pig-sticking at Ahmednagar, but the author says
he saw very little of this sport. We now come to big game shooting ;
* Records of Sport in SourHERN Inp1A, &c., by the late General Hamilton, published
by Porter, London.
5388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATUKAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
we thought that, having once ourselves mistaken a tiger for a light-
coloured deer at some little distance off, it was our own stupidity, but
the author consoles us; he says:—‘ At 300 or 400 yards off, more than
once I have mistaken a tiger for a light-coloured hind, until I have
brought the telescope to bear and seen my mistake.” Col. Hamilton
accounts for his immunity from accidents with the many tigers he
has shot, to carrying out the advice given him by an excellent shikari,
a Seedee, named Eman, which was, when shooting tigers on foot,
“never, if you can possibly avoid it, fire at a tiger when the line of his
body is towards you’’; he gives another of Eman’s wrinkles in Deer
stalking, to remain perfectly motionless the moment a deer catches
sight of you, as the least movement will send the animal away ; it
may be necessary to stand thus five or even ten minutes, but if you
do not move, the deer will commence feeding again; you can then
approach nearer, doing so with the greatest caution, but the instant
the deer raises its head, you must be exactly in the same position you
were when it first saw you; again you may have to wait, but each
time if you have not been seen to move, the animal will gain more
confidence ; a curious thing is that it does not appear to be aware
that you have reduced the distance by 100 or 200 yards.
Chapter IV. is taken up with an account of a trip to Singapore,
Java, and Labuan.
Chapter V. treats of Bears, by one of which our author was
slightly mauled ; there is also an amusing little sketch of a wounded
she-bear turning on her cub, entitled, “ I did not do it, Ma.”
Chapter VI.—Ibex shooting in the Neilgherries, &c.; if we were
critical we might demur at the dignity title of Ibex. It contains
nothing of any particular interest to our mind, be it in the
Himalayas, Atlas or Neilgherries, the accounts of stalking and
shooting have a great sameness.
Chapter VII.-- Elephants; the sketches in this chapter are admir-
able. Oneis, ‘* Itry todrive him home, but only drive him furious 2s
our author runs short of ammunition, which he appears occasionally
to do, and after blinding an elephant, he cannot finish him off, so
attempts to drive him near his camp by throwing stones at him, and
such like, from 10 a.m. tod p.m., when he gave it up, but found
the beast dead the next morning.
REVIEW. 539
Chapter VIII. is perhaps the most interesting, as it deals with
Tigers, Leopards, &c., and numerous the former must have been in
those days ; time after time the author was able, as he says, for an
hour or two, to watch them, when unable to get near enough to shoot
one; this facility of observation unfortunately is not given to most
people now-a-days. However he says: “TI have never seen a tiger
strike down an animal. I have seen them chase deer, but they never
go more than 200 or 300 yards. * * Two tigers will often hunt in
concert, generally in couples. JT have often watched them thus when
approaching a herd of deer. <A brother officer told me that he saw a
tiger drive a deer up to some rocks, where another one was crouching,
ready to spring upon it, On one occasion, whilst out looking for
sambur, I saw a stag out feeding above a strip of jungle and noticed
a tiger stealing along below it ; the deer began bellowing and moved
up the hill, followed by the tiger, the latter trotting after the deer,
and occasionally breaking into a canter, the deer trotting on with its
tailup. The tiger did not attempt to stalk, except by remaining for
a moment atarock. The stag broke into a gallop, and the tiger
immediately followed it, just then my shikari said: “ Look, there’s
another tiger above,” and there was one bounding down the hills to
cut off the deer ;”” unfortunately, at this interesting moment they were
lost sight of. The author gives, as his experience, that tigers do not
hunt by scent, and that they have no idea of taking advantage of the
wind when stalking ; on one occasion, when looking for a deer with a
friend, he heard a sambur belling; I whispered to my companion
that I thought there must be a tiger in the wood ; I had hardly spoken,
when we heard a low gutteral growl, and every time the deer belled
the tiger answered with a growl. ‘Then a third deer commenced
belling, and for several minutes this went on, the tiger answering
with a growl every bell of the deer. The tiger appeared to be
approaching us, when suddenly the growling ceased, but the belling
of the deer continued ; a short time afterwards a hind dashed into
the open, but no tiger appeared. I have heard a tiger growl to the
bell of a deer at other times, but never so persistently as on this
occasion; now my idea is that the tiger by growling, sets all the
deer belling, and when he has fixed on the exact spot where one may
be standing, he suddenly stops answering and proceeds to stalk the
animal ; if the tiger had sufficient sense of smell to hunt the deer by
540 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
scent, I do not think he would reply to their ery of alarm by a
erowl.
The largest tiger killed by the author measured 9 ff. 3 in.
The concluding chapter deals with Bison and Deer. We willonly
allude to one incident; after shooting away all his ammunition at a
hill bison and failing to kill it, the animal still being able to get up
and go a few paces, he finished it off in a most extraordinary way.
We will give his own words. * * “I thought he was dead, but what
was my astonishment when he again got up on his legs and quietly
walked off, and when he laid down again, it was as naturally as if
he had not a single hole in his skin. This looked pleasant ; I did not
like to leave him, and had only one resource, so I tied my hunting-
knife to a long bamboo, and creeping up, plunged it into his side
just below the elbow ; this finished him.” There is a sketch shewing
the coup-de-grace being administered. This in other books of Indian
sport we wot of, we should consider a case of the long bow. The
knife must have been longer than the ordinary run of shikar-knives,
and securing it to the bamboo must have been an excellent example
of lashing, but as we have before said, from the modest way in which
the book is written, the incident must be taken as above suspicion.
EK. F. B.
* FurR-BEARING ANIMALS.
In this book there is a great amount of useful information, in fact
its title might be “Things not generally known.” As regards the
animals in nature there are many slips and inaccuracies ; and useless,
and in some cases childish, padding; but it is not our intention to
pick holes, but to give an idea of its merits. At the commencement
there are tables of the quantities of furs imported by various com-
panies. As an example of the enormous number furnished by some
animals, we will take the Australian Opossum, of which in 1891
2,254,111 skins were imported. At the great Fur Sales in London
the value of fur-skins sold annually is little short of £1,000,000. We
commence with the monkeys ; the Indian monkeys do not appear to
furnish many skins. The Lion Monkey (JZ. silenus) is mentioned,
but its skin is not often imported; the fur of the Himalaya
* Fur-bearing animals in Nature and in Commerce. By Henry Poland. Chur-
ney and Jackson, 1, Paternoster Row.
REVIEW. 541
Langur (8. schistanus), however, “is much esteemed as a fur, and
200 or 300 skins are imported annually.”
In most cases the value of a skin is given, e. g., a perfect black
maned skin of a lion is worth £50 to £70: a good tiger (Indian)
skin is worth £4 to £6, and the claws 9d. to 5s. each, but in the case
of the Chinese Tiger, the value of the former is from £10 to £40,
and of the Turkestan Tiger from £3 to £25: 135 Chinese tiger skins
were imported in 1891.
There appears in India to be an idea that the skin of the Snow
Leopard is of great value, but Mr. Poland dissipates this idea; the
value, he says, of a good skin is from £2 to £6 10s., and £7 is the
highest price paid ; those of the Chinese Leopard fetch from £5 to
£1010s. The extreme price of an ordinary Panther skin is from 12s.
to 42s. Ofall the animals, whose skins are an article of commerce,
the Sea Otter furnishes the most valuable one ; it is only 4 or 5 feet
long with a very short tail ; a skin has been sold for £200, and £100
is not considered an extraordinary price. About 2,400 skins were
imported in 1891, but it doubtless will soon share the fate of the
Great Auk.
The Yak next claims our notice. ‘‘ Many tails are imported annually
for the manufacture of wigs, etc.; the white are worth 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. ;
the black and grey are in less request for wigs, and fetch 4s. and 2s.
respectively.”
Under the head of the Common Goat we find that in 1891
7,259,212 skins were imported tanned from India alone. The only
Indian Deer we find any mention of is the Cheetal; ‘‘a few skins are
sometimes bought by the United States, also a few by English
furriers, for foot-mufts, etc., but the majority are now purchased for
leather; a good large skin is worth 6s. to 7s.’”’ ; the horns are also an
article of commerce.
EK. F. B.
* Row.Lanp Warp’s New Book.
The raison d’étre of this book is explained in the first few words of
the preface :—“ My object in producing this book is to start a record
of horn measurements of the Great Game of the World.’’ The
* Horn Measurements, by Rowland Ward, published by same.
a
542 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1899.
measurements are on the outside of the horns from tip to base,
circumference at base; with Deer above first time. Mr. Ward gives
the weight of various animals, but as he says, “ weights taken in
the field should be accepted as approximate,’ we should be inclined
to say that they should not be accepted at all. We will mention
the best measurements of some of our Indian animals and hope
that some member be able to “‘cap” them.
The best barking deer is 6} inches with a circumference of
3 inches; this is from the collection of A. O. H.
A great number of Sambar measurements are given, and again
A. O. H. is first as regards length, viz., 463 inches; the circumference
is however not equally good, viz., 63 inches; the thickest has a
circumference of 7% inches, length 44}, from Rangoon C. P., owner
Col. W. J. Morris. He also gives the span and the extreme width
inside measurements, which, especially the span, as might be expected,
vary considerably. The number of points are given; out of 87
measurements a single horn from Nagpur has7 points, two 4X4, one
7X6 (A. O. 1), several 4X3, and of course the majority 3x3: Mr.
Ward makes two species of the Sambar, Ist, Cervus aristotelis, habitat
India, Burmah, and China; 2nd, Rusa hippelaphus, habitat Central
and Southern India; but as C. aristotelis and R. hippelaphus are syno-
nyms for one and the same animal, and as there isone Sambar, not two
Sambars, we do not know what Mr. Ward means, unless it is the
latest invention of some species monger. |
A. O. H. again has the second Hog-deer as regards length, c7z.,
19; inches with a girth of 3% inches, the greatest girth being
+ inches of an 114 inches horn. |
Major Cumberland has a very fine Swamp-deer, head 41 inches,
but unfortunately one horn is broken, shot in the C. P. in 1891;
this deer seems to belie its name of Barasingh, as out of 36 measure-
ments only 8 have 12 points, two specimens from Nepal have 8X8
and 9X8 points respectively ; both are in the British Museum.
37% inches is the best Cheetal-head (A. O. H), and 47 inches the
best Barasingh (Kashmir); again 12 points is the exception ; the
best has 8 X 8 points.
We now come to the Antelopes. The best Four-horned Antelope
has horns 43 and 24 inches. The Blackbuck 284 (straight) ;
REVIEW. 543
40} (round curve), The best Chinkara is 14} inches, but Mr. Ward
notes ‘owner’s measurements”’ ; 132 comes next ; only two measure.
ments of females are given, viz., 7} inches and 43 inches.
An animal, which Mr. Ward calls ‘““Arnee”’ for some reason, is only
a Buffalo under an incognito. A single horn at the British Museum
measured 772inches, along way ahead of the next measurement which
is 65 #in., and one cowis given 984 inches; it would have been interest=
ing if some measurements of the Domestic Buffalo had been given.
The best bison is 332 inches. The book closes with various tiger
measurements. We have omitted to note the best pig tusks, viz.,
10 inches outside the curve.
We do not know the price of the book, but from its appearance
expect that it is rather expensive. We think that if Mr. Ward had
brought out a small and cheap book, it would have been probably
more useful, and would have been a suitable addition to one’s shikar
kit ; but Mr. Ward’s clients doubtless are chiefly sportsmen who
hunt on magnificent lines, with lacs of rupees and tons of kit, like
the latest expedition to devastate Somali land, and the ordinary
Indian sportsman with an 80 lb. tent and afew depreciated rupees
is more or less unknown to him.
EEE. B.
544
‘MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
No. I—FOOD OF THE FLYING FOX.
In Mr. Blanford’s Mammals of India, p. 258, is an interesting note about the
Flying Fox: ‘“‘They (Flying Foxes) are also fond of the fruit of Terminalia
catappa; aud are said by Day to extract the kernels often, utilizing the verandahs
of houses as a resort while thus engaged, and alarming the inhabitants by sounds
suggestive of house-breaking.” T'erminalia catappa is the so-called “ Almond”
or “ Walnut”? of our gardens. A handsome tree, chiefly noticeable for the
beautiful colour of its large leaves when dying. Dr. Day’s observation has been
verified by two seasons’ experience of burglarious bats at Tanna. When the tree
is out of fruit the bats are “ not a-burgling.”’
W. F. SINCLAIR, I.C.S.
No. JI.—BIRDS OBSERVED BREEDING IN KHARAGHORA.
I write to record the fact that I have found a large colony of the Large
Cormorant (Phalacrocoraz carbo) breeding here in our lake. I see that
Mr. Barnes states in his Birds of Bombay (page 439), and also in his series of
papers on “Nesting in Western India,” published in Vol. VI. of this Journal
(page 304), that as far as he knows the only part of the Presidency in which this
bird is a permanent resident is Sind, where it was seen breeding in the Eastern
Narra District by Mr. S. B. Doig. I visited the colony on the lst instant and
found between 70 and 80 nests, all of the large kind, together with a few of the
Lesser Cormorants. No nest had more than 5 eggs, and in some instances all
the eggs were hard set. I noticed that some of the birds were entirely white
on the breast.
It is also worthy of note that the Black-winged Kite (Hlanus ceruleus, Desf.)
is breeding here in large numbers this year, some 10 or 12 nests having been
found by Mr. J. Davidson, C.S., and myself during the past 20 days. In only
one case have the eggs been hard set, and in this instance there were 5 eggs in
the nest. In other cases 3 or 4 eggs have been found slightly set, but most of
the nests are either being built or just completed.
I have seen no more Crested Grebe breeding here this year.
H. BULKLEY.
Kharaghora, 1st December, 1892.
No. I1J.—NOTE ON PSILOTUM TRIQUETRUM.
The genus Psilotuwm belongs to the N. O. Lycopodiacee, and is represented
by only one species—P. triquetrum. No Bombay, or, as far as I am aware,
Indian Botanist mentions this plant as growing in India. Its habitat is given as
tropical climates, and it is indigenous in the United States ¢f Brazil, Central
MISCELLANKHOUS NOTES, 545
America, Madagascar, and in the Moluccas and Sandwich Islands. A short note
on this plant, as Ihave found it growing in the Savantvadi State, may not be
uninteresting to some of the members of this Society. I forward herewith a
specimen of the plant for the Society’s Herbarium.
Hasirat.—As yet I have met it growing only in one locality, that is on the roots
of a cocoanut palm. I have looked for it ou the roots of other cocoanut palms
in other likely localities, but without success. Possibly it may be found growing
in other parts of the Konkan. There is no doubt however that it is indigenous.
Descriprion.—The plant is parasitic ; when fully developed it is 7 to 8 inches in
height. The root, or properly speaking the underground stem, was deeply
embedded in the roots of the palm. The stem is erect, herbaceous, triquetrous,
and divided dichotomously. The leaves are very small, sessile and bristle-
pointed. Fructification in the axils of leaves, consisting of three-celled capsules
or sporangia. The capsules burst when placed in water, and present, under the
microscope, numerous small spores. -
Usrs.—The plant is cultivated in hot-houses in Europe. Its economic uses,
if any, are unknown.
My identification of this plant has been kindly verified for me by Professor
Woodrow, of the College of Science, Poona.
The specimen which accompanies this note is not fully developed.
D. G. DALGADO, M.D.
Saventvadi, 26th September, 1892.
No. IV.—NOTE ON INDIAN BREEDS OF DOGS.
The November numbers of The Field have contained a somewhat desultory
correspondence about Indian breeds of dogs, which suggests the following notes
on some formerly known to me as kept pretty pure by natives in this Presidency.
The most famous strain is the Wanjari dog (in Chee-Chee Brinjary), but many
and discrepant are the descriptions of him. The Wanjaris or Lambanis, nomad-
carriers and cattle-breeders, are .being driven off the roads by the improvement
thereof, which enables the bullock cart to supplant their pack-bullocks even on
short routes. For long distances, of course, they cannot compete with the
Railways. They are consequently settling down to agriculture and trade; losing
their sporting tastes and less in need of watch-dogs than when their ‘‘tandas ”
were the main transport agency for grain and salt. The natural result will be
the degeneracy and ultimate extinction of their special breeds of hound. But
in the sixties and seventies they were still great carriers to Panwell and
Kalyan, where their freights were shipped for Bombay. The crowded island
itself afforded even then no space for pasture for their numerous cattle.
In those years I knew them to breed several strains of hounds. The first,
which I think is the true Wanjari hound, was more like the Danish boar-hound
than anything else, though somewhat inferior in size and beauty to that fine
546 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
brute; probably from worse fare. Perhaps an imaginary cross between the Dane
anda rather coarse Greyhound (or even Pointer) would give the best idea of these
“* Asal Wanjari’’ dogs. They were very fierce and brave, and were kept in
order chiefly by force; though not at all dangerous to their friends. An old
Wanjari lady once reduced a dog who attacked me to order by throwing her skirt
over his head and sitting down on him.
These dogs had fine short coats, commonly black, or mostly black, but some-
times fawn or brindled. I never saw nor heard of one of this race in the
possession of any one but a Wanjari, and even amongst that caste they were not
very common.
A second breed kept by the Wanjaris was a coarse lureher-like greyhound
usually of a deep fawn-colour; with short, harsh, and rather scanty but uniform
hair. These resembled what have been shown tome as ‘‘ Rampur hounds ”
(whether rightly so called or not I cannot say); but the Wanjari Greyhound was
the bigger and handsomer brute of the two.
A third breed, chiefly owned (as far as I saw) by half settled Wanjaris in the
East of Khandesh, was a sort of large coarse Spaniel something the sort of dog
that one might suppose to be obtainable by crossing the English Spaniel with the
Scotch Collie; and the offspring with a big stout village “‘ pie dog.”
I have repeatedly known the Wanjaris to sell pups of this and of the second
race, and have owned them, and their hybrid descendants, myself. Their vile
temper renders them undesirable pets, and their dishonesty makes them bad
neighbours. But they are good watch-dogs and lurchers, hardy, and very good
at running into wounded game, though too little amenable to discipline for such
services as we break the sporting dogs of Europe to.
The Thilaris, a race of wandering shepherds, goat-herds, and pony-breeders,
have or had a breed of dogs called by their name. This is a tall shaggy lurcher-
like dog, whose appearance suggests a cross between a Greyhound and a black
Newfoundland of the lesser race. The Thilaris sell these dogs to other natives,
who sometimes value them highly and use them well. The finest Thilari hound
that I ever saw was in the possession of a Wanjari. But I never owned une
myself nor saw one with an Huropean.
The Ramusis of the Deccan and especially of the low hills between the Bhima
and Nira Valleys, had a breed of Greyhounds that they called “Lut.’”’ These
were true Greyhounds in form, though not equal in size, beauty, or speed to the
English race. They have, however, very hard feet, and are less apt to be lamed
in a course over stony ground than imported Greyhounds. Their usual colours
are blue and fawn; the blue are the most valued. The hairis short, stiff and
scanty, sometimes almost to nakedness.
I suppose these to be allies of the Polygar dog, if there be indeed a true
Polygar race. For Polygar is only a Madras word for a local chief, hardly worth
ealling a Raja, and the Ramusis are believed to be an immigrant race from the
South, or else the remnant of a race whereof the main body has gone South.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 547
Their affinities with the Southern Bedars and Berads are hardly to be doubted,
and their dogs may well be distant cousins of the packs of Mysore and Madras.
The Ramusis often sell their dogs. None of these Indian dogs, however grey-
hound-tike, have had the advantage of Lord Orford’s cross with the bull dog,
whence we trace the English Greyhound’s weak power of scent and fierce energy.
Therefore they all use scent more or less, (as indeed will he, if allowed), and all,
to some extent, give tongue upon a scent, though not in anything like the tone
ofa hound, with one odd exception. ‘This is at a village on the Bhima, whereof
I have forgotten the name, but there was a bungalow there, where some early
Victorian Collector of Poona once kept fox-hounds. There, when J last visited
the place, two and twenty years ago, the fox-hound cross was still observable in
the face and voice of the local “ pie.”
All the races named, to the best of my belief, are apt to have the so-called
“ dew-claw,’’ especially the short-haired greyhound-like types, and most espe-
cially the “ Lut.”’ It is usually removed in puppyhood, as exposing the dog to
injury in running. I have seen and performed the operation, “cruel only to be
kind’’—the wound heals in a few hours, because, I suppose, the soft tissues of
the puppy give way easily. All who have kept Greyhounds, know that injuries to
the claws of the adult are often a serious matter, and the dew claw, when retained,
seems to be specially liable to these, while functionally useless.
Of imported dogs, a small European-looking greyhound, usually fawn-coloured-
is known to me as the Arab Greyhound, and a taller race, withthe shape of a grey,
hound and the coat of a rather smooth black and tan Setter, as the Persian. But
I am not aware of any better authority fur these names than that of the horse
dealers who sell them.
In this Presidency, as we go North-west, the village “ pie” gets bigger and
bigger, more and more “‘ audacious ” and aggressive, until in Upper Sind, I have
known the “
pies”? to drive out of his own bead-quarter town a newly-arrived
Assistant Collector from the Peninsular Provinees, who had dared to walk into it
without a stick. He returned, however, in arms and in wrath; and great and
grim was the slaughter. On the border, the brutes are still more savage; and
beyond it I’m told, nearly as big and quite as dangerous as the men. What’s
worse, as they are useful watch-dogs, your defence may iuvolve you in feud. But
all that I have seen of these dogs, including the pack of so great a Nimrod as the
Amir Ali Murad Khan of Khairpur, were merely highly developed “pies”’ ;
evidently near of kin to those of every village in the Peninsular Provinces of
Bombay.
Thana. W. F. SINCLAIR, LC.S.
No. V.—A GAZELLE’S FOOD.
The following peculiarity in a Gazelle which we have on board may be of
interest. It was presented to the ship about two years ago by the Sultan of
548 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
Muscat, during which time its principal food has been teakwood shavings, which
it seems to prefer to any kind of green food. Potato peelings, rope-yarns, and
tobacco are amongst the other curious things which this animal appreciates. It
thrives wonderfully well on this diet, and hardly ever touches water. It is exceed-
ingly tame, avd firing the guns does not disturb it.
SEYMOUR D. VALE,
Lieut., R. I. M.
R. I. M. 8. “ Lawrence,’ December, 1892.
No. VI—A LYNX ATTACKING A MAN.
The following curious incident happened a few weeks ago in this district, while
I was out in Camp, and is interesting as showing how courageous such a small
animal may become when pressed for food. It appears that three coolies were
going along together in single file, through the jungle, inthe south of this
district, on their way to Camp at night. When passing through some fairly high
grass, an animal sprang upon the last coolie from behind and fastened itself upon his
shoulders. He happened to be walking along at the time with a blanket over his
head, and had the presence of mind to quickly turn up the edges and envelop the
animal within its folds. The animal fell to the ground, and with the addition of
the blankets belonging to the other coolies it was effectually smothered and
brought into Camp. It was a perfect specimen of a Red Lynx (Felis caracal), so
accurately described by Jerdon in his Treatise, but it is a curious fact that not one
of the natives inhabiting this part of the country had ever seen such a creature
before. Ido not recollect having heard of a previous instance of a Lynx attacking
aman. It was miserably thin, and evidently pressed for food, and perhaps had,
in its eagerness to catca some prey, mistaken the coolie for a buffalo, calf, or some
animal. I have the skeleton, and am sending it down to the Soeiety’s Museum.
H. E. DRAKE-BROCKMAN, F.R.C.8., F.Z.S8,,
Surgeon-Captain, I.M.S.
Mirzapore, N.-W. P., December, 1892.
No. VII—ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SPOTTED GREY TREE-
CREEPER AT AHMEDNAGAR, DECCAN.
When out nesting this morning, in the vicinity of the European Cemetery, in
company with Messrs. Eccles and Tooth, we obtained a specimen of the Spotted
Grey Tree-Creeper (Salpornts spilonota, Frank). The bird, when first seen, was
creeping round the trunk of a rather large Acasia tree. I at first sight mistook
the bird for a Wryneck, and was nearly passing it over. On account of its active
movements, little or no chance was given for close observation, but having caught
a momentary glimpse of its long curved bill, I had it shot. It was very tenacious
of life, as, although the crown of its head was shot off, it continued clinging to the
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 549
bark of the tree, for at least five minutes, when it gave a convulsive flutter and
fell to the ground, being quite dead when picked up, Although we spent some
time observing it, it uttered no notes.
The bird was very lively in its movements, first alighting at the base of a tree,
which it crept round rapidly, until it reached the upper branches (merely stopping
occasionally to investigate a likely looking crevice), when it would fly to an
adjacent tree, and recommence its perambulations.
The bird was an adult male, as ascertained on dissection, and as its testes were
in anormal condition, it could not have been near the breeding season. [I shall
nevertheless keep a good look-out for other specimens, which, if found, I shall
not molest, but carefully observe, with a view to learn more of this little-known
but interesting species. Although unlikely, yet it is still possible that it may be
found breeding here.
The occurrence of this bird at’ Khandesh was communicated to me by
Mr. Davison, as recorded in the appendix to my “ Birds of Bombay,” and this
extended the Southern limit of the species from Mount Abu to Khandesh,
Colonel Butler having found a specimen at the former place, which for a long time
remained the only recorded instance of its occurrence in the Western Presidency.
My discovery carries the limits about one hundred miles further South.
Not much appears to ve known about these birds, but Mr. Cleveland found two
nests, containing young, in the Gurgaon District, of which an interesting account
is given in “ Hume’s Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,” 2nd Edition, edited by
Mr. Oates.
H. FE. BARNES, F.Z.8.
Ahmednagar, \st February, 1893.
P.S.—With the exception of the length, Jerdon has omitted the dimensions in
his description of this bird, I therefore append them, as they may prove useful :—
Length, 6”; expanse, 10°5"; wing, 3°7”; tail, 2:2"; tarsus, 0°63 bill at gape,
1:15”; bill at front, 0°9”.
The colours of the soft parts are: bill, blackish, beneath whitish at base; legs
and feet plumbeous-black ; iris, dark brownish.
He By Be
No. VIIIL—MOONLIGHT SHADOWS.
The effect of mixed lights related below seems to deserve record.
The shadows of Passion flower leaves, trained over a white wall, were observed
of a cinnamon colour, under a rising full moon. It required actual touch to con-
vince eye-witnesses that they were not dead leaves hanging against the wall.
On the removal ofa single candle, which had been throwing light upon the
light shadows, though not strong enough to cast a noticeable shadow itself, the
moon shadows resumed their natural black. This happened at Tanna a little
over 19° North Latitude.
W. F. SINCLAIR, I. C. S.
72
550 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
No. IX.—MEASUREMENTS OF BLACK-BUCK HORNS.
On page 392 of the Journal of the Society, No. 3, Vol. VII., it is entered that
Mr. Blanford mentions a pair of Black-buek horns 28 inches long, &e.
I shot that buck at a place called Jaisingpura, about seven miles south of
Jeypore, in Rajputana.
At the request of Mr. A. O. Hume, I sent the horns for him to see, when he
happened to be stayimg at the Jeypore Residency, and he verified the measure-
meuts in the presence of some other visitors, one of whom I rather thmk was
Mr. Blanford.
The horns were 28} inches long, but in a subsequent correspondence about
them, Mr. Hume asserted most positively that they were 292 inches, and that they
are so recorded in his notes.
I think Mr. Hume must have made an illegible 8, which he afterwards read as 9;
his writing never was very clear; but Mr. Blanford probably also took a note of
their length, and he has it correctly.
Horns of 24 inches are common in Rajputana and about Sirsa in the Punjab,
and horns of 26 inches are not infrequently met with, but anything over 26 inches
is rare.
A pair of 272 inches are in the Sappers’ Mess at Roorkee, shot by General
Blood of Agra at Jeypore.
B. W. BLOOD.
Ajmere, 7th February, 1898.
No. X.—A BOLD PANTHER.
I send you the following account of a night in a machan, as I think the extreme
boldness displayed by the panther concerned was somewhat remarkable :—
On the morning of the 4th instant having received khubber that a panther had
killed a 3-year-old cow within a mile of my bungalow, I had a maehan got ready
and went out at dusk to sit over the kill. It was about 6-30 when I got comfort-
ably settled, and as the moon was not to rise till 10 or § past, I had 3 hours of
darkness to get through, but as the kill was only 70 or 80 yards from a row of
native houses, I hoped that the panther would wait until all was quiet. As the
kill was a larger one than the panthers about here usually prey upon, I did not
think there was any likelihood of its being dragged away, and consequently did not
tieit up. I had not been in the machkan more than 3 ofan hour, when the panther
came ; it was too dark to distinguish him, but I could tell by the noise he made that
he was dragging the killaway. There was heavy jungle quite elose, and thinking
that my only chance was to fluke a shot, I aimed at something black which I could
distinguish about the right place, aad fired. There was no answer to the shot, and all
was quiet, and I knew that Thad missed him altogether. Meanwhile the oceupants
of the neighbouring houses came running out with torches, so I got down to see what
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 551
had happened to the kill, I found it had been dragged 3 or 4 yards, and that I
must have aimed at the black patch of ground on which the kill had originally fallen.
As the panther had evidently not been touched, I thought he might possibly return
before morning, and determined to finish the night in the machan. Ihad the carcass
of the cow dragged back toits criginal place, which was in better view of the
machan, and tied by the horns and quarters to adjacent saplings, The villagers
were very noisy and talkative, but eventually I got rid of them and went back to
my machan. While settling myself into a good position, I saw that the stump of
a bamboo torch which the villagers had left on the ground close to the kill had
been fanned by the wind and was glowing brightly. However, I thought it
would soon burn itself out, and did not trouble te move it. I had not beenin the
machan more than 10 minutes, and the villagers were still talking loudly within
earshot, when I heard the same sounds, as of the kill being dragged. I could
hardly believe that the panther had returned so soon after being shot at, but so
it was. This time he found it more than he could manage, and proceeded to
begin his meal where he was, in spite of the still glowing embers within a couple
of feet of him. At this time it must have been about 7-30, and I could
distinguish nothing in the darkness, so I held my hand in the hopes that his meal
would last until the moon rose. This was not to be however; the crushing
of bones went on for about ? of an hour, then suddenly the sound ceased, and I
thought I heard him moving off. I still hoped he would return towards mornirg,
as I knew he could not nearly have finished the carcass, and this time I was
not disappointed: he returned about 2-30 a.m., when the moon was well up, and
began sucking up the blood which had eollected in the stomach of the kill. I
could now see his outline clearly, and made a lucky shot—he went a few yards
and then fell dead. The panthers that hang about the villages here are usually
very suspicious and wide awake, but this one wasa remarkable exception. He
was a young male in very good condition, measuring 6’ 6”.
P, L. COX, Lieut.
Savantvadi.
No, XI.— MEASUREMENT OF SAMBUR HORNS.
I beg to send you, as a matter of interest and for publication in the Society’s
Journal, the dimensions of a Sambur head found by my friend Colonel Salmon
in the Pili jungles of the Satpura Hills in the Ellichpur District of Berar.
I may add that I assisted him in taking the measurements, and can there-
fore add my testimony to his that they are as exact as care could make them.
The head is an exceptionally fine one.
KENNETH MACKENZIE, Col.
Amraoti.
5 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
ox
No
Difference.
Right horn. Inches.' Inches. Left horn. Tene
Outside M. ...| 461 | 44 | Outside M. Seo) Siisee|, welutares
. Inside M. wa) 44 42 | Inside M. cee gee) ones
g J Outside M. ..| 422 | 421 | Outside M. on na Nil,
: Inside M. | 401 | 402 | Inside M. hi seal pobu steers
(A to©) L. Inside M, nod) RE | AG |) Thasials ie vos) aay ameter
(B toC) 8S. Do. sof, HBR | AL | © ID, woe eigen ea
(DtoE) T. Do. vo} 242 | 142| Do. wae eal Semen
(FG) Around base ...| 104} 10 | Aroundbase ... | Bee
(I) Six inches above.| 64 62 | Six inches above... Reel aes ic th
(H) Below upper bi-
furcation.| 8 8 | Below upper bifurcation.| Vil.
PROD ope, < opal ONE Se ese Oe LPF 5 tse | Rs
TENA! Goa. Ceo) BOE | SO) | IB ia 1B’ tes poof eva ce
TOONS cear odalh 2S hey 1D) a 18) ba 390 wwe) era
a
MISCELLANKOUS NOTES, 553
Ins,
A to A—23}.
B to B—-313, C to E, right horn 21 ins., left 193 ins.
C to C—36,
D to D—21$.
E to E—103.
F to F— 33.
These horns were picked up by me in the Pili jungles while out after a tiger—
by whom I believe the stag had been killed. The measurements are as nearly
exact as it is possible to get them.
W. H. SALMON, Lt.-Col.,
3rd Infy., H. C.
No. XII.—DUCKS.
I am sending you by post the skin of a duck I shot at Dhonsa Tank, about,
seven miles off, the other day. I cannot identify the bird either from Hume’s
** Game Birds,” or in Barnes’ “‘ Birds of Bombay,” but it appears to me to be
a female of one of the pochards.*
It may also interest you to know that last year (14th February) I shot
3 White-fronted or Laughing Geese (Anser albifrons) at a place called Deviria
near Anjan, in this province. Lieut. Barnes states that Anser albifrons is a
“comparatively rare cold-weather visttant to Sind alone.” This may be of use
to him, should he bring out a new edition of his book. He alsostateson page 398
that the Cotton Teal ( Nettopus coromandelianus) is not recorded from Guzerat,
but I find from a pencil note that we obtained it in December 1888 on a tank,
about 15 miles from Godhra, Panch Mahals. Three out of five were shot by
Mr. W. L. Souter of the Police, who was one of our party during the Christmas
holidays. I believe the Panch Mahals are in the province of Guzerat.
C.D. LESTER, Lieut.
Bhuj, Cutch.
No. XIII.—THE GIANT BETEL-NUT TREE.
I am sending you two specimens of the fruit of the Rdm-adki or Giant Betel-
Nut tree with three of the common betel-nuts for comparison. The nut is of
no value, and can be eaten only when quite unripe, and is used as a medicine.
The tree is of the same height as the Betel-nut palm, but the stem is from twice to
four times as thick. The leaves more closely resemble those of the Cocoa-nut
palm, the stem being half as thick as the latter, but in outward appearance it is
like the Betel-nut palm. It is in fact a half-way link between the Betel-nut
* The duck has since been identified by Mr. S. B. Doig as an immature specimen
of the pin-tail duck (Dajfila acuta).—Ed.
554 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
and Cocoa-nut palm trees. Only a rare specimen or two of the Ram-adki is to be
found in the spice gardens of Kanara, as the young plants are not allowed to grow
up. Ihave not met with it below ghats, The garden cultivators, im whose garden
in the Sirsi taluka I found it growing, teld me that it was grown to prevent light-
ning from striking their garden, but they could assign no reason for their belief
beyond the fact that their ancestors believed the same thing.
C. HUDSON.
N. Kanara District.
No. XIV—WOLF-HUNTING-*
It is a well-known fact that a black buck can be caught by a horse without
difficulty, if the latter is in condition; but I believea wolf is not often ridden
down, perhaps because the animal is not often found in a rideable country. An
account of a wolf-hunt may, therefore, be of mterest to some of your readers.
We had khabar of a pack of wolves living near the sea-shore, along the edge of
which there was, for many miles, a mangrove swamp, from which the wolves are in
the habit of making raids upon the neighbouring flocks of sheep. Young wolves are
not infrequently killed in their earths by the shepherds in revenge for their
depredations; but the favourite prey of these animals appears to be a donkey, if
they can find one astray. The country is mostly flat and open, except in the
neighbourhood of the sea, where it is intersected by nullahs and contains quicksands
and marshy ground. We, therefore, skirted the sand-hills as close to the sea as
possible in order to drive the wolves towards the better ground inland. The
mirage which magnifies objects in these plaims led to our following a pair of
Jackals for some distance, but discovering our mistake we returned to rest under
some babuls near the shore, while we sent a number of coolies into the mangroves
to disturb the wolves. After waiting an hour or so we saw some sowars, whom
we had posted on the look-out, about half a mile to our right, riding inland ; and
coming up to them we found that a wolf had left the swamp, and was ahead of
them. Riding on for some distance we picked up the wolf, heading well inland
and going at a leisurely trot. We gave chase at once, and hada hard gallop for
seven or eight miles. The wolf went straight away at first, bué gradually bore to
the left, and was finally killed, after describing three parts of a circle, within a
mile or a mile-and-a-half of where he started. His action was remarkably easy, and
he seemed to go almost stride for stride witha big waler; for three or four miles
we did not gain a yard on him, and crossing some nullahs and broken ground he
gained a further advantage. Luckily he took to the flat again, and presently began
to come back. After another mile I could see by his hanging tongue and standing
mane that he was getting beaten; and I was soon near enough to make him jink.
* The above appeared in the Times of India, and is republished by permission
of the writer. The feat of riding down a wolf single-handed was performed by
another member of this Society, Mr. N. 8. Symons, as reported in the Asian on
25th October, 1881.—Ed. :
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 505
Here the other two riders were able to cut in and help to finish him off. He was
too exhausted to makeany resistance beyond biting at the spear, and was quite
rigid within a minute of death. The pace throughout was very fast: it is needless
to add that condition in the horses is an absolute essential for sucha ride. Two
of us were on Walers; the third man, on an Arab, was nevertheless up before the
wolf was dead.
The next morning our camp was joined by the sporting Thakore of the district,
with half a dozen of his followers; and going out again in the same country we
found a couple of wolves almost at once close to the sea-shore. In trying to get
on the inside of them, so as to drive them inland, we let them get too far away,
and by the time we were riding in earnest they hada start of halfa mile. This
mistake cost us a great deal. A long stern chase followed; the wolves took a
course parallel to the sea, and after a mile or so, separated, one crossing a salt-
water creek andover some low cliffs dewn to the sea-beach, the other keeping
on some way inland. Both were followed, but the long run-up had tired the
horses, and after five or six miles more of it they were getting beaten. The wolf,
which had run along the beach, now turned inland and crossed another creek,
where the two riders who had followed him, but had never got on terms with him,
pulled up in despair. Here, however, some of the rest of the party, who had
followed the other wolf and lost him also, came up, and we determined to try to
pick up one of them again and ride him in concert. Spreading out into a long
line we worked inland, and a mile further on picked up one of the wolves. Then
another long ride began, for the horses had not enough left in them to gallop
him down, and he had to be gradually tired out, one man after another taking up
the riding. He was beaten at last and speared, after a run of fourteen or fifteen
miles altogether. The horses were very much done, the Walers more so than the
Arabs ; a 13-3 Arab pony with a light weight went from beginning to end and was
the least distressed, while one of the Walers fell during the run from exhaustion.
Our experience showed that a wolf may be ridden comparatively slowly and tired
out, as is done with black buck; but I doubt whether a single horse could accom-
plish it in this way.
Rajkot. C. W. WADDINGTON.
No. XV.—NEW SUMATRAN BUTTERFLIES.
1, DANAIS (Caduga) TYTIOIDES.
Differs in both sexes from D. tytia, Gray, but more especially in the male,
in both wings being narrower, the male has the outer margin of the forewing
deeply excavated, the outer margin of the hindwing cut off, in both sexes the
anterior half of the discoidal cell of the forewing is black, and in both sexes
the hindwing on both sides is of a much duller-red colour.
2. EUPLGA (Narmada) MARTINII.
Male, upperside, both wings deep velvety black. Forewing witha marginal
556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1892.
series of fourteen small pure white spots, and an interior apical series of four
or five spots. Hindwing with a double submarginal series of white spots,
sometimes coalesced. Underside, both wings paler than above, spots similar,
but the forewing has in addition a costal, a discoidal cell, four discal, and the
hindwing one discal spot. Female, upperside, both wings paler than in the
male. Forewing with a complete series of eight submarginal spots, and with
three costal spots in a bunch beyond the upper outer end of the cell. Under-
side, both wings with the same differences as above, but the hmdwing witha
spot in the cell and four spots outside the cell.
3. TERINOS TEOS.
Male and female, upperside, hindwing differs from 1’. robertsia, Butler, in the
absence of the two large triangular white spots, one each in the second median
and discoidal interspaces, and on the underside of the same wing in the highly
zigzaged submarginal broad line being violet-coloured instead of white.
4. ATHYMA ASSA.
Male, upperside, forewing differs from A. nivifera, Butler, in the streak in
the discoidal cell being narrower and much shorter, and the three subapical
white spots half as wide. Underside, both wings with the ground-colour
castaneous instead of hair-brown, all the bands glossed with purple instead of
being dead white, forewing with the cell-streak quite undivided, hindwing
with no series of dark brown spots between the discal and submarginal bands.
5. EUTHALIA (Tanaécia ?) KLONE.
Male, upperside, hindwing differs from 7’. nicévillei, Distant, in having a broad
submarginal white band not reaching the outer margin and bearing on each edge a
metallic greenish band, these being broadest and meeting towards the anal angle.
Underside, hindwing with the white band as above, but not edged with greenish,
the black markings on both wings much more prominent than in I’. nicévillec.
6. HUTHALIA (Nora) ERANA. |
Male, upperside, forewing differs from H. salia, Moore, in the discal band being
broader, more deeply zigzaged, not posteriorly bearing a sprinkling of metallic
green scales. Hindwing with the discal white band much broader, the marginal
area on the anal half of the wing bluish-purple instead of green. Female, upper-
side, both wings have the discal band narrower and far less white.
7. CYRESTIS (Chersonesia) CYANEE.
Male and female, upperside, both wings differ from C. visa, Doubleday and
Hewitson, in the entire absence of purple markings, the third black line from the
margin lacking the series of pale yellow triangular markings placed internally
against it found in C. risa, the fourth black line from the margin much broader,
the fifth and sixth as well as the seventh and eighth lines filled in with fuscous,
forming two broad blackish bands, instead of enclosing merely a portion of the
tawny ground-colour. .
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 557
8 ABISARA AITA.
Male, both sides, hindwing differs from A. neophron, Hewitson, and A. savitri,
Felder, in having the outer third white.
9. YASODA PITANE.
Male, upperside, forewing differs from Y. pita, Horsfield, and Y. tripunctata,
Hewitson, in the apical and outer black areas being much broader, and the hind-
wing having the posterior half black, that is to say the area from the black discal
band shewn in the original figure of “ Myrina”’ pita to the margin is entirely
black, instead of having a large area of the yellow ground-colour posterior to
the discal band.
10. DELIAS DATAMES.
Male, upperside, hindwing, the black marginal band differs from that of
D. momea, Boisduval, in not bearing a series of white spots; underside, forewing
bears seven marginal and one discal spot, thetwo uppermost of the marginal
spots yellow, the rest white, while in D. momea there are five marginal and
three discal spots, all white; the yellow discal area is also more extensive.
11. DELIAS DANALA.
Male, differs from D, singapura, Wallace, in the apex of the forewing being
rounded, not produced (D. singhapura appears to have the outline of a
Prioneris) ; on the underside of the forewing the black area appears to be more
extensive, and bears five spots only; and on the hindwing the outer black
margin bears five mstead of six spots, the uppermost spot of D. singhapura
between the subcostal nervules being wanting in D, danala. ;
12. DELIAS DERCETO.
Apparently nearest D. erithoé, Boisduval, from which it differs in having on the
upperside of the forewing two white spots at the end of the discoidal cell instead of
one, a submarginal series of seven spots instead of three, no discal white patches
posterior to the discoidal cell ; on the hindwing the white and yellow discal area
approaches nearer the outer margin, and is consequently further removed from
the base; and on the underside of the hindwing the diseal crimson band is more
than twice as broad, thereby greatly reducing the yellow area beyond, which area
in this species is cinnamon rather than gamboge-yellow, the forewing with the
same differences as on the upperside.
All the species above-mentioned will be more fully described and figured in a
forthcoming part of this Journal.
LIONEL DE NICEVILLE, C.M.Z.S., F.E.S.
PROCEEDINGS.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING HELD ON 29r1H NOVEMBER, 1892.
A meeting of the members of this Society took place on Tuesday, the 29th
November, Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Maconachie, presiding.
THE LATE MR. W. H. HART.
Mr. N. S. Symons proposed, and Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel G. A.
Maconachie seconded, the following Resolution :—“ That this meeting records with
deep regret, its sense of the great loss which the Society has sustained through the
death of one of its most valued members, Mr. W. &. Hart, and that a letter of
condolence, expressiug the sympathy of the members, be sent to Mrs. Hart.”
Dr. Maconachie spoke of the great interest in the Society taken by the late
Mr. Hart, and ef the numerous important papers which he had contributed to
the Journal, in conjunction with Mrs. Hart, from the time of its foundation.
ELECTION OF MEMBERS.
The following new members were duly elected :—H. H. Maharaja Scindia
(Gwalior), Vety. Lieutenant A, C. Newsom (Bombay), Mr. P. Henry K. Lee (Mysore),
Mr. G. E. Howse (Bombay), Surgeon-Major J. S. Wilkins (Bijapur), Mr. R. C. Lees
(Bombay), Mr. F. D. Topham (Bijapur), Dr. Moreshwar Gopal Deshmukh (Bombay),
Captain Frank Oswald (Aurungabad), Dr. Sadashiv Waman Kane (Bombay),
Captain J. S. Nicholson (Mhow), Mr. Cowasjee D. Mahaluxmiwalla (Bombay),
‘Mr. A. F. Woodburn, C.S, (Hyderabad, Sind), Mr. J. Bowen (Bombay), Lieutenant
F. L. Vincent (Jacobabad), Surgeon-Captain J. Vaughan (Fyzabad), Mr. R. B. Booth,
C. E. (Bajkote), Lieutenant F. T. Oldham, R.A. (Ahmednuggar), and Captain
Stanley Smith, R.A. (Bombay).
CONTRIBUTIONS DURING SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER.
The Honorary Secretary then acknowledged the following contributions received
since the last meeting :-—
Contribution.
il Srapsiiesy (IGE) soocgjoca neo 20"
1 Black Buck’s Head
(Horns 254 inches).
2 Palm Uivets (alive) .....
3 Snakes.ce.scvec decree sevves
1 Ground Thrush ......
2 Badgers’
Skins.
2) SIMPLES, S5.59000, canned cq0000 060
LEorempine Mishyerecs-:
A large number of Butter-
flies and Beetles,
i Snake) (live) icccsssaceeses
Maia Wale taneensenesie
Skulls and
.| Aguila vindhiana ,...
Description.
Zamenis diadema ........ See
Antelope cervicapra ...... S00
Paradoxurus niger ..,.....00
Tropidonotus stolatus ......
Tropidonotus plumbicolor.
Dipsas trigonata .........:.
Pitta brachyura...........
Mellivora indica
Tropidonotus piscator ...
Diodon hystrix wc... .0000
From Mysore ......+0..
Dipsas triGOnata.....cceserarees
Contributor.
Mr. B. W. Blood.
Col. D. Robertson.
Mrs. Aston.
(ae J. H. Dickinson.
)
: ; Mr. P. Clutterbuck.
Mr. C. H. Kane.
Mr. H. M. Chichgar.
Mr. Henry K. Lee.
Mr. J. Maclean.
Maj.-Genl, Anderson,
PROCEEDINGS,
(obs 4
on
©
Contribution. Description. Contributor.
1 Lizard (alive) ............0.., Hemidactylus sp. ... ........| Mr. E. A. Bulkley,
ee emt. ( Species unknown ............| Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.
POSMAKG: op asec. ..cgees-seeen vasf Dipsas trigonata,”...\.,..<. | Dr: Langley.
A collection of rare From Darjeeling ........, »)
Butterflies. Dr. E, Harold Brown.
MR UIacGdse dees eee jews sse ven cos MELA Se hamalayAnUsease, see § ’
1 Elephant’s Tooth ..,... :..| From Travancore ............| Mr. W. Gaye.
2 Foetal specimens of} Tetraceros quadricornis ...| Dr. K, R. Kirtikar,
Bekri.
% §| Typhlops acutus ........... e .
Oe STE 2S a pA RO SBOE ERREEE ? Oligodon SHE ee ee ‘ Mr. E. H. Aitken.
PP Gde Sham eiicsjesesccinericonaen
6 Snakes and_ several ?
Pat:, &e. From Matheran..,............| Mr. J. A. Betham.,
A collection of Butterflies )
A Collection of Stuffed) From Australia ...............| Mrs. Shewen.
Eirds (mounted).
1 Skull of the Barbarusa...| Barbarusa alfurus ........ \
4 Crimson-crowned Weaver] Euplectes flammiceps ...
Birds (alive). :
SO haiaigrcerstcdedtceences +o |0 bY AS MUCOSUS soscceevacoeees Dr. Weir.
A collection of Sea Shells. | From Karachi ...............| Capt. Townsend,
1 White-breasted Water| Erythera ploenicura ..,......) Mr. Symons.
Hen (alive).
7 Eges of the Snow) Tetraogallus himalayensis..| Mr. J. H. Hurst.
Pheasant.
i Python ..... Siiecsives sn e,]|/ Ley bHOUS HOLLIS wagacs ss» veeee.| Lieut. Waller.
DOINGS! sey coe tense os) 2-| AICEDO SP.) .c...csve ssc sense. ss-| Mr. Wy I’. Sinclair; €.8,
TUtanus calidris............-.-| Mr. N. Burrows.
Mr. H. M. Phipson.
re me
MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS.
From Professor R. Oxenham, Mrs. Langley, Mr. J. Black, Major Orr, Mr. T. J.
Scott, Mr. R. B. Smith, Dr. Baker, Mrs. Birdwood, Mr. W, F. Sinclair, C.S., Mr. S. P.
Leggett, Miss Prentice, Dr. Langley, Mr. B. W. Blood, Mr. E. A. Corke, Mr. P. J,
Gomes, and Lord Colin Campbell.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.
“ The Flora of British India,’’ Part XVIII., from Government of India.
““The Victorian Naturalist,” Vol. IX., Nos, 5 and 6, in exchange.
“The Indian Forester ” for October and November, in exchange.
‘¢ Le Monde des Plantes ”’ for October and November, from Mon. Leveillé,
“ The Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London ” for 1892, Parts II. and
III., from Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.
* The Zoological Record ” for 1891, from Mr, W. F. Sinclair, 0.8.
“ Les Mémoires de la Société Zoologique de France,” from 1891-92, in exchange.
‘* Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria,” Vol. IV., Part I., in exchange.
** A Monograph of the Oriental Cicadids ’’ (Distant), Part VII., from Trustees of
the Indian Museum.
* Curiosities of Natural History ” (Buckland), 4 Vols., from Miss Phipson.
660 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892.
‘ The Canadian Entomologist,”’ No. 10, in exchange.
A large Photograph (framed) of a Python crushing a Monkey, from Mr. W. RB,
Woodrow.
A steel engraving of Charles Darwin, from Mr, H. M. Phipson.
“« Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,” Vol. XVIII.. in exchange.
‘¢ Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society,” Vol. 1V., in exchange.
LIFE MEMBERS.
Mr. IT. M. Phipson gave notice that at the next meeting he would propose that
the following be added to the rules of the Society :—“ Any member may, on pay-
ment of Rs. 150, become a Life Member of the Society, and will thereafter be exempt
from any further subscriptions.” .
Mr. Phipson considered that it was of the utmost importance, for the permanent
welfare of the Society, that a Reserve Fund should be formed, and he hoped that
those members who were likely to remain in India for some time, and also those
who wished to continue to receive the Journal after they had left the country, would
avail themselves of this rule.
THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR.
The third part of Mr. E, C. Stuart Baker’s series on the “Bulbuls of North
Cachar” was also read, and the sketches by the author were much admired. The
birds described in this part of the paper were the Himalayan Black Bulbul (Hypsi-
petes psaroides), and the Bengal Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Otocompsa emeria), an excel-
lent illustration of which will appear in the next number of the Journal.
TUR POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.
Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar read the third part of his paper on the above subject
which is now appearing in the Society’s Journal, illustrated by means of coloured
plates, executed in London, from sketches drawn from life by Mr. Isaac Benjamin, of
the School of Art, Bombay. The particular plant referred to in this part of the
series was Pythoniwm wallichianwm, and specimens of it were exhibited. The
balb ig exceedingly acrid, but the flower-stalks are largely used as an article of food
in the neighbourhood of Bombay. Unless they are boiled fora long time, they are
apt to canse violent irritation in the mouth and throat, and consequently are gene-
rally eaten in conjunction with the fruit of the Kékad (Garuga pinnata), the acid
quality of which counteracts the acrid properties of the flower-stalks,
A vote of thanks to Dr. Kirtikar for his interesting paper was passed, and the
meeting ended,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING HELD ON 21st DECEMBER, 1892.
The usual monthly meeting of this Society took place on Wednesday, the 21st
December, Mr. J. Wallace, C.H., presiding,
NEW MEMBERS.
The following gentlemen were elected members of the Society:—Mr. J. FB,
Whiting, C.E. (Bombay), Lieut. H. P. E. Parker (Hyderabad, Sind), Mr. Li C*
PROCHEDINGS, 561
Crump, C.S. (Rutnagherry), Colonel J. C, Doveton (Nagpur), Lieut. D, O. Morris
(Aurungabad), and Captain H. M. Prior (Bombay).
LIFE MEMBERSHIP.
The following Resolution was passed unanimously :—‘‘ Any member may, on pay-
ment of Rs. 150, become a life member of the Society, aud will thereafter be exempt
from any further subscriptions.”’
UP A HILL.
Mr, W. F. Sinclair, C.S., the Collector of Tanna, read a very interesting account
of an excursion he had recently made to the hill known as Kaygad in South Kolaba.
Mr, Sinclair referred to the principal plants, birds, fish, &c., which he had noticed
on the sides and top of the hill, and made his remarks all the more interesting to
those present by means of specimens taken from the Society’s collection. His
paper will appear in full in the Society’s Journal (see page 452).
ita ‘at phate —
THE’
IOURNAL
yet, Fa) ab er THE
& +, © :
STS
Boweay Natura History Society.
ol
s = c: EDITED BY:*
ee H. M. PHIPSON, C.M..Z.S.
see Ne he 44 Honorary Secretary.
eee powwow =
No. 5.—VOL. VII.
Gonaives Statement of Accounts for 1892, Title Page
. Contents, Index, &c., and Five Plates,
Date of Publication, rst August 1893-
Price to Non-Members,.. ieee. es pn Se
Bombav:
PRINTED AT THE
KDUCATION SUCIETY’S STEAM PRESS, BYCULLA.
: The ‘Gpatents of this Noe: should ie a in
_ order when Vol. VII. is, being bound :- eee
Plate of New Toad so “+ to face page 317
Plate of New Snake ee : - - oe to face page,
Plate of Butterflies, Plate 1
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Index to Volume VII.
Names of New Genera and Species have an asterisk (*) prefixed.
Specific Names are written with a small initial letter ; Generic,
Sub-family, Family, and Order Names are written with a capital
initial letter.
PAGE PAGE
Abaratha erate ieee. WTR Og. DiGtavy ra hte inet aya ieee er a
aberrans 488 ie tre ».. 200 | egyptiaca ... 201, 372, 374, 377, 472
Abisara.., fee ae vos aye OOT | eBYptiacus ~~... sare awe sect:
Abrus... BAe wae oat v» 492 | elianus .., sah te aed Perot
Abutilon... no = vee ... 461 | Adluropus vee see ... 880, 389
abyssinica fre es A ... 870 | Anictus ., yee ce .» 18, 42, 176
Acacia, ... 00 Pe 29, 201, 521 | Aerides... sae ach sae os le
Acanthacee .., as ...64, 69, 483 | /Hschynomene ,.. a arte vee 467
Acantholepis ... ee 41; 452360) 2o2 le See tae es Sor - ... 003, 306
Acanthus Bren ent) sa ee SIS lh ebliopscd.c | eee Leen an pao omenad
acaste ... “a hes .. 215, 216 | afer ee wae Wea 304, 307, 311
acaulis ,., Sis 5c in Son CE) PehatbaviSle wane aes Ae ia sie Oo
*ace oe oC ve .. =©329, 356 | africanus ice mn Nea eros
acerifolium .., ses Le ... 520 | agathon oe av ee vee 343
acervorum nas 00 .. 44, 45 | Agati ... ao “ion . 467, 520
*acestes .., es Sot ... 9330, 356 | Ageratum sa soc Sr .. 476
achelous... aes 500 .. 801 | aggregatum ... vse 20° ... 122
Achillides iy Lc bes Pees, Se Bde WP apmabis wbecL GR” Nanos aise ede
Achras a Be so ... 522 | Agrostidee ... ase € vee B07
acida .w.. ae Sp nies ... 463 | Agrotis es 3 ws 009, GOL
Aconitum wae .» 491 | ahamus ... Ser ss vee O02
acrea ... nat See ae oe O42 | Falta ave cr 0 tes ROO
PEOUOPG EAC) Teas | gear \t vave, | 4By BOF" Me aatomi an). acs bie) (aoa eT eeO0
Aculeata na AUD eeknes ae, Se epoca MT Garo Ree SUR, ee emer aee
aculeata nee nee »» 390,467 | akasa... oF an sd vn O29
acuta... tee ve vee »» 553 | Alangium onc it iw OT
acutangulus ... afi we ... 463 | Alaopone i Ay re N65) 202,
acutifolia site op nL ve O24 | alata’... oye nc Daly
acutiventris ... sa ae ree iO) (alate eee sec aus is ony ihe:
Adansonia ae at a ve 013 | alba ...276, 291, 472, 476, 492, 513, 518,
aaah See, ale Vi Secs. ROR 519, 521
adenensis 0 act wile +.» 217 | albifrons.., ne at ke vee 008
Adenostemma ... ane oe .. 476 | albipes ... A Bec Bc 48, 60
adorea .., ‘ are ae ... 300 | albiplaga <a noe “00 we OOT
zeecodoma ee : . 196 | Albizzia ai SB aise eto
ZEcophylla 13, 17, 19, 28, 26, 39, 60, 221 | alboceruleus
zegagrus..,
eee eee eee eee 329
x ane ... 248 | Alcedo .., Kad ee as Menon
PAGE
alcippus ., cre 200.210
aleurona .. ann .. 218
alexis... 900 nf . 426
Algee .. £02
aliena ... ay 56 Fee
Allophylus 50¢ 5a 290, 465
Aloe .. 526
alsinoides we 481
Alucurus we £21
amabilis .., ue OOe) 4
amarah ,,, ae sep, Sal
ambareesa Bae 900 .. £29
ambiguus gfe
Amblyopone soe OY)
Ampelideze ... £65
Amphicyon ce 494
amphimuta . 300
Ampittia 5
Ampulex 21, 200
Ammania ; 289, 472
Amorphophallus 315, 526
Anacardiaceze ... bo . 466
Anacardize . 520
Anacardium 56 AO)
Aneectochilus we O29
anchises ... 208, 217
andamensis 326, 400
andersonii 324
Andrographis S00 Nemo,
Andropogon 100, 280, 367
Angracum seg LUD DH
angustata 435, 486, 437
angusticollis 82, 226, 235
angustifolia 379
angustifolium ... 022
angustifolius 481
angustior ae 192
Anisomeles 485
annulatus x ins 100
Anochetus 20, 51, 55, 60
Anona 880 291, 460
Anonaceze sad noc 460, 519
IATISCL are isc 5A0 553
antedysenterica 524
Anthocephalus ... 521
Antilope... 0 oh 391
antiquorum ... vee2l9, 252, 285, 316
JNTIRGES So san 19, 20, 44, 50, 200
Apheenogaster ... 182, 202
apidanus bs . 332
INDEX.
PAGE
Apis a pape: Reis)
Apluda ... . 288
Aplysize mee ss
Apocynacexe . 519
Apocyneze 80 we 478
Aporia ws O40
aquaticum me oie sae wee 476
arabica ... ... 29, 217, 372, 373, 377, 380
Arachis .., iat es ... 299, £68
arachnifera .. 365
arborascens see O22
arborea ... 514, 527
arbor-tristis » 5UZ O26
*arca ee 331, 336
Archisometrus .,. ves - 296, 800
ardens ... « 236
Areca . 28
Argemome 506 sae OLO
argentea 37, 479, 480
Argyreia open
Arhopala 00 329, 356
aria Ae Ni 426
arietinum pac . 364
aristata ... we 15 208
Aristida... 307, 309
aristides 326
aristoides tats . we 008
avistotelis 395, 442, 542
arjuna 344, 345
armata ... 36, 189
aroa 329, 330
Axroidese ... 312
arrogans... 20 231
Artabotrys on . 519
artegal ... a 332
Artemisia 522
articulatus don te OND
Artocarpus ves ZOO
Arum .. 50 315, 516
| arundinacea ne O20
Arundo ... 378, 379
Asanada... 135, 18
Asclepiadeze ac we 478
Asclepias 479, 516
Ascothamnion ... wee 294
*asia 393, 306
asiatica ... 464, 483
asiaticum 50 519
asiaticus... po 464
asoka ase 2 . 913
asopla ..
asopus ...
aspera...
asperrimus
asplenifolia
*assa
assamensis
asterope ...
*asthenes
asthmatica
Astictopterus
AUSEUT — ss0
ate S08
Atemeles
Atherura
Athyma ...
atomarius
atoto age
atrisparsa
Aquila ...
augiades
augias
aurantium
aureum ...
auriculata
auriculatum
auriventris
aurulenta
australis ,.
Avena
Avenacez
Averrhoa
axis ;
Azadiarachta
Azanus ...
Azardirachta
bacchus ..,
baccifera ...
bactrianus
bada
Badamia ...
badius
beeticns ...
Baleenopicra
Ballota
Bambusa ...
bambusze
bandhucea ...
Baoris nae
INDEX,
PAGE
. 304
386,
210
486
... 66, 67, 68
Pry
was: 7 TBR
277, 289, 283,
477
vee 006
£7,000
. 209
161
479
ve. 429
. 404
we» Ool
45
ma LO
. 556
. 296
285
5, 146
. 457
.. 004
0 AT
vee 464
. 523
.. d14
. 522
232
a. Zol
. 402
10315, 520,
eee see
364
363
526
... 096
. 520
nad
. 612
sai, oe OBS
282, 283,
242
472
399
426
425
231
50
400
485
10
427
474
426
barbadense
barbadese ...
barbarus .,
barbata ,,,
barbatum ..,
barbatus ,.,
Barleria ..:
il
PAGE
Rats. Ge 463
_ ed iyo es BOIS DOT
Fer rae ae 183
ae ts 867, 869;-869
See Ler gatas 289
vs ake BOAR OBS Sey
1. 285, 483; 518
basale 13, 186, 188
basalis 4 tae pi 231
basilicum ..,, 560 ae 485, 524
*bassaris : : vse O21, O06
Bassia Aad 525
batatas co a Bae 480
Bauhinia ... nee «. O12, 514
Baza vs »- 403, 412
Beaumontia ae or on 518
beccarii ... wae eae ee» 182, 202
Belenois pcr wee 216
belerica wee bac 527
belesis wat ane at ae 347
bengalensis... 82, 83, 84, 129, 177, 265,
309, 310, 312, 414, 416, 417, 457
benjamina ... a ae vs Od, 82
bennetti ive ae a 893
Bergera vee ane 463
bevani ri 426
bhagava tee 428
Bibasis 425
bicalyculata .. Bar an 484
bicolor 22, 36, 109, 179, 202, 517
Bidens Br ae 477
bifaria ise ae 379, 387
biflora ...22, 386, 389, 474, 477
Bignonacee... soe nee 208 517
Bignonia .., Sas nee +. 00, 524
bihamata ee noe 36
bilimbi j ... 815, 520, 526
biloba on oe +0252, 480
binghami ae Nee 177
bioculatus ae 200 ... 156, 158
bipartita ... 46, 60
bipinnata sac ee ee Gal
birmana 184
bituberculatus asa BERS aoe 50
Bixa... se 285, 460, 515
Bixinee .., dies tie ... 460
Blatta ... “oc ide oe Pee eal
Blepharis non sve 69
Blumea ... woe Geo 22,
beeticus ,,,
42, 210
iV
Bombax. ...
bombonica
bona-nox
bonduc ... oe
bonducella nea
Boragineze
borbonica
Bos aie
Bosclaphus
Bosolaphus
Bothriomyrmex...
Bothropenera
Botthroponera ...
Brachymyrmex
brachystachya ...
bracteata...
Branchiostoma ...
brandti ...
breviceps
brevicornis es
brevifolia
brevilabiatus ...
brownel ... 500
Brugmansia
bruneipes
Bryonia
Buchnera ae
*buddhee ee
Budorcas
Bufo
bulbifera
bungarus
burmanicus
Butea ... wae
Buthidee
Buthus ...
caballus...
Caduga ...
Ceelachne ae
ceeruleus
Ceesalpinia
ceesar
cee spitum.
Caladium
calais ...
calathus
calearatus B00
calderon...
INDEX.
PAGE
ane 460 doe, OES)
wae 5 war ABR ASO
ie LO
ip ch ee TO
277, 282, 470
479
Hepa rn 290
248, 399
248, 249
534, 535
48, 244, 245
... 84, 58, 60
eon.
248
5. #880
282, 475
erat Grebe
0136, 148, 145, 146
... 400
137, 177
elt ee ee)
.. 188, 142
500/383
cnBLS
As en eS
Forages a eps /
LE aarenaags
34, 227, 238
255, 411
Pe
290, 526
ere elge 257 |
3, 128 129, 264, 265,
413, 417, 418
500 .. 018, 525
295, 297
£00 295, 303, 304
a forsale 10 BAM
277, 282, 470, 521
So BO, inl
44, 185, 244
. 315
300 .. 214, 216
200 ie ws. 000
300 we 470
2 Bee)
PAGE
calendulacea 500 ‘ we ATT
callida wae 240
callidus ... : 0 woe 241
Callosune 0 58 vee 214
callosus ... Bes 64, 67, 518
Calobopsis ae a “00 pauon:
Calophyllum ....108, 277, 285, 289, 291,
461, 519
Calotropis ...209, 283, 478, 492, 512, 516
Calyciflorze .. 466
calycina 312, 373
Calymperes ... 290
Calysaccion Spo ais)
camelinus 34, 224, 232
Camena ... 835, 306
Campanotus 138, 17, 19, 20, 22, 27, 28,
295
180,
campanulatus ..,
Camponotide ...
Canavalia §
candida ... 200
Canidee ...
canifrons... 50
Canis
Cannabis... oe
capensis ...
Capila
capitata ... spe
capitatum
capitatus .. see
Capparidacee ...
Capparidee ...
Capparis
Capra...
Capsicum vee
caracal ... Sh
caranda ... noc
CAIS® see ae
carbonarius ae0
Cardiocondyla ...
Cardiospermum
cardui
Careya ...
Carica
carin
carinatum
Carissa ...
*carmentalis
carnifer ...
30, 34, 35, 41, 52, 59,
221, 223, 231, 244, 430
ve 526
... 17, 28, 219, 220
290, 468, 469, 470
a) es
494, 495, 498
aie 8, 10
494, 495, 498, 501
. 62
AG 860
347, 349, 351
... 285, 468
Pash eS
aj Ee ae ee
feo 2a a eee ee
eee
214, 216, 515
Ao eee
vs 291, 482
(A ee tenee
ie eee
ii
231, 234
23, 188
carnifex .., Pe
carnosa ... ae
Carpopogon
Carthamnus
Cassia... .
Cassytha
castanea... vee
Castalius
catappa ... nes
Cataulacus Bae
eatechu ...
catjang ..,
Catochrysops
Catopsilia
caudiculatus
Ceanothus
cebrene..,
ceilanicus ccc
Celeznorrhinus ..,
Celastrineze
celebensis
celinde
cenchioides
Centipedes
Centotheca
*centrurus
Cephalandra
Cercomela ty
cervicapra
Cervide ,.. wee
Cervulus ee
Cervus... 247,
Cesalpinea
Cetacea ...
ceylonicum
*ceylonicus 135, 136,
eee
142, 153, 1
137,
..121, 213, 471, 5
18, 23,
oie
137,
250, 394, 395,
400,
INDEX.
PAGE
166,
280,
174
465
468
. 526
514
. 282
rae 2 LO
aie “0 dag aut}
290, 291, 471,
178,
544
202
. 278
281,
Al,
160,
470
210
213
166
we 464
sag) Pal
soo WBif/
. 429
.. 464
. 326
326
. 100
133
. 388
174
. 473
2, 261
soul
401,
fer
158, 173, 174, 177, 309,
SCCY Rs tee
chaleomicta
chalybea...
chalybeia mae
champak.., ee
Chapra ... sch
Chraa se
Charadnida ea
charantia 5c8
chebula ... ae
cheela ... ee
Chelifera one
cheops ces vee
328,
. 394
394
» 042
84
402
140
54, 157,
501
356
. 213
36
. 535
. 519
426
278
256
473
527
458
20
326
Chersonesia
Chilades...
Chilognatha
Chilopoda
chinensis
chitonoides
Chloride
Chloropsis
Chlorosis =
christi ...
chromus ... Are
Chryseeus ot,
Chrysanthemum
| chrysippus
Cicer aes awe
cilare ... ane
ciliaris
ciliata...
ciliatus ..,
cinctatus...
cinerascens
cinerea,.,
cingalense
Circacus .., 566
Cirrhzetus are
Cissus
citrifolia... ase
Citrullus 500
Citrus
clandestina
clara
clavata ... oa
clavatus...
Claviger 06
clelia
cleobis ae
Cleome ... sie
Clerodendron ...
Clitorea ... 0
Clitoria .., aie
cnejus ... ees
coalita ...
cobbe
Cocci ...,
coccinea ,.,
Cocos... rea
ceelestis ... ACO
Cogia ...
cognatus see
Coladenia sec
1a) 1985 167:
son TBSP 57,1 0)
475,
Vi
PAGE
556
211
143
138
372
Si
136,
143,
208,
... 864
we 100
380, 385
380, 483
67, 68
«136
237
. 476
173
... 458
vs 458
.. 465
vee AT5
mee
520
19, 42
182
oe £73
MP bi
ve 45
wu. 210
ee BAG
515
524
. 613
468
210
. 329
465
19, 20
518
. 272
. 215
... 400
240, 241
ee 3
INDEX.
v1
PAGH
Colobopsis , se .. 221, 435
Colocasia 278, 282, 285, 316
colocynthis ay) 085
Colubrina . 464
Combretacere ... ae Sa .. 471
communis . 69, 275, 879, 401, 519
commutata See vee O09
commutatus ae sev 009
comottoi... 230, 231, 243
Compositze . 476
compressa, alae 390 toc ... 202
compressus 13, 30, 59, 15%, 229, 240, 432
concolor... 129, 267
confinis.... as Oe
contemptus 290 tee) loa elOd:
contemta 5, ISS
contenta noo Wise
continentalis 150 1826,
Convolvulacece ... ee A79, 517
Convolvulus 106, 230, 479, 480
Conyza -... we 476
conyzoides sae AG
coracana..., : ae 281, 285
Corchorus vee 463
Cordia tee wae ODA
cordifolia . 289, 466
cordifolium na woe 476
coriaria ... Ab soa AES aR!
Cormocephalus... 134, 137, 140
Cornaceze Be, pun) axel
corocana... 22, 373, 375
corocenus . wa OLD
Corolliflore ... ae 474
ceromandeliana.., 359, 387
coromandelianus apt 309, 553
coronaria 518, 524
Coronilla us ... 467
corrugata 144, 145
corymbosa woe 494
¥cotesli ... 600 . 438
crameri ... : 5 lil
crassimanus ne ae Oud
*erassinodis Ge 82, 230, 243
crebrestriatus ... US, LOO. ae
Cremastogaster,,, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 196,
202
Crespis ... : is ee ALTE
cribriferum sag ae aS
criniceps oo vee LO
Criniger .., 5 3 4, 420
| Crinum .,,
crisilda ...
cristata .
eritatellus
crithoé ..,
| erito
*critolaus
Crocus
*Crossiura
Crotalaria
eruentatus
erus-galli
Cryptodesmus
Cryptops
Cryspis ..,
cucumerina
Cucumis
Cucurbita
Cucurbitaceze
cuneatus an
curassavica
curcas
curvidigital
Cuscata
cyanea
*eyanee ..,
cyaneus ...
Cyaniris
cycloseros
Cynanchun
Cynodon
cynosuroides
Cynosurus
Cyon...494, 495, 496, 498,
Cyperus...
Cyrestis
Dactylis
Dactyloctenium
_ dactylon
. Datura... 278, 285, 291,
- debilis :
Dafila ..
dalyi ...
Danainze
Danais ....
*danala... ..
dana, 9) ae
*datames
_ deccanensis
eee
136, 153,
373,
499,
eee
482,
@ss
494,
. 587,
353, 427
fe
492, 518
Benes 5
496, 502
decipiens
decora
decumana
dekhanika
Delias ..,
Delphinus
delphis ..,
Dendrobium
Dentella
denticulata
dentilobis
dentipes
depressa
*derceto
Desmodium
Deudorix
deva ie
Dhatura
Diacamma
dizus ..,
diander ..,
diandra ,,,
Diaphorina
diardi
dichrous
Dickthadia
dictator .o..
difformis
diffusa ...
digitala .,,
Digitaria
digitata ..,
diligens ..,
Dillenia ...
dillenii ...
Mima | ss.
diminuta
Dinebra ...
dionisius..,
Dioscorea
diovis
Diplopoda
Dipterygium
* dis one
Disciflorze
Discognathus
* discoidia
Discophora
dissectus...
disticha ..,
... 182, 183, 135, 138,
eee
INDEX, °
PAGE
iaeSe2
oat oe Lea
291, 464, 520
ve 195
we OO
.. 401
we 401
v 192
288, 474
53, 290, 480
aon bUTS
ve | 187/71
vee 857, 358
w 557
wv 7. BB
212, 338, 356
ix 836
wi 612
age PEG OBA
seis. MR ROBYT
ew so
361, 517
19, 30
ce. 880/862
231, 243, 432
=) aie
Gast
, 196
474
ve 869
vee 865
513
240
. 513
. 516
357
asic ep
o00 372, 373
327, 328
ssescy aS
. 839
142
aoe ecole.
325, 326, 356
Gi eeee
wes 455
356
356
-.. 480
vee 485
distichus..,
distinguenda
dives
djeeleelee ...
dodoneza..,
dohrni ,, ast
dohrni-rogenhoferi
* dolendus
Dolichoderide ...
Dolichoderus
Dolichos..,
dominicze
donax .,., “Ae
dorippus.,. vee
dorsata ..,
dorycus .., 2
Dorylide ase
Dorylus ... vee
dozyanum vee
dugong ... tes
dulcis .., see
Dulichius 183
duvauceli as
Dyctis .., on
dynamene
ebeninus,,, or
Ecbalium :
Echinalysium ..,
Eclipta ... aes
Edentata sia
edulis .,, SA
egialina..,
egyptiacum
Elachura
Elanus ... ass
eldi 500 “65
elegans ..,
elegantula
elema
elergi
Eleusine
*elone ... eos
elongata...
Elymniinze
Elytrophoras
Emblica..,
emeria .., vee
Emeriya.., ves
emlica ..,
wistts doe CRS GAS
217
. 834
va SOT
Aa hehe men Foe
v2 83, 227, 237, 238
...17, 48, 220
ens) De a OS
468, 469, 470
Mes, 402 dee Hae ee
hig Qe) oc tte eee
209, 210
iuacticee wes ae
... 82, 226, 228, 286
16, 18, 24, 176, 220
13, 18, 175, 176
... 290
551 he, Ue ee
sa, ea eS
sei) 1 ead VIREO
we 247, 894
fiat, eae
oenis served LAtCsteeeh ae
ia 23, 197, 199
' 74
tee 879
we 476
va 402
een Spar
ve 824
. 100
neve? GAD
.. 644
254, 256
vs B84
.. 884
218
vy 22
22, 281, 285, 372, 373
Wéetss) och ces MOLE
.. 861
ws 828
... 379
val way'tQ86
129, 263, 560
ehigy. Rattis: (ERD
. iene
Vill
emolus ...
epigone ...
epijarbas
epius
Hragrostis
eragrostis
*erana ...
Eranthemum
erecta 0.0
erioptera
erithonius
Erythrina
esaca,
* esacoides
esculenta
etelka ...
Equide v0.
EqUINUS oo.
Kquus ...
Bugenia ...
eugeniz ...
Euphorbia
Huplea ...
eupompe ...
Eupsychellus
eusiformis
Ruthalia ...
Kutriana,..
evanidus...
Kvolvulus
Exacum ..,
exasperata
excavatare.s
excellensyo.
excisus
exclamationis
exigua
*exiguoguttatus
farnecsiana
fastigatus
FASTULOSA ooo
faustus ...
feze
Felidze
Felis
*fergusonii
ferox 600
ferruginea
festinus ve.
285, 291,
aoo 200
INDEX.
PAGE
41
. 216
vee O09
380,
382,
512,
188, 291,
285, 492,
3, 229, 240
, SAI
; . 482
482, 519, 518
, 214
51, 296
396, 498
oot see 048
317, 345, 357
ie , 491
AGG .. O14
111225, 227, 298, 240
PAGE
Festucaceze vee O18
Ficoidese... 500 S00 vee 473
Ficus 12, 29, 35, 76, 128, 291, 456
filiformis... aes ae tee ses 202
fistula ocr ie aes wee O13
Flacourtia vee oes ve 282, 460
flagellifera . 377
flagiolepis 44
flava Nop 3-199
flavala ee oe 7, 12
flaveolus .., see soe nas sda nk
flavescens 400 pe ns es 027/
flaviventris Noe ie ies) DB fOpeL ao
flavomarginatus ue oe woe 207
Havllin else sho ze Bess
flavus vee see an By 240
Flemixus are ea
florella ... 000 00 ‘ va Ds
floribunda 000 ane an jae O26
florida ae we O21
Flos 000 : ae wes OO2
fluminalis sek ... 402
foetida wea ie . 527
folus . 428
Formica... 19, “4, 46, “47, 222% 931, 232,
244, 245, 438
Formicize aa ne 500 19
Formicide,., 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 28, 191
*fornaronis BAD 500 224, 232
fragrans .., sold,
frauenteldi ; 69 46, 60
frivaldszkyi ... vee 800
frondosa ... 518, 526
frutescens 291, 478, 482
fulvipes ... 600 Ba w. 804, 309
furcata ... ie ee lS)
fusea 44, 47
fuscithorax 32, 930, 937, 241, 242, 243, 432
fusco-gagates ... Re
fuscus
eos
* oretulia
gagates ...
gaika
galba
galeata ...
Galega ...
gallicus ...
gallinago
gangetica
Sea
51, 137, 468
Ae MMi 2h)
te
eo er
vs 429
.. 216
ve 467
vee 458
gg | Sea eet
i 2) ioe ee
Gardenia
Garuga ...
Garunga
Gazella °.,
Gegenes,,.
geminata
Geometra
Geophilidze
ghatika ...
133,
gigantea ... 209, 283, 478,
NDTIS obs
glaber
glabra
glandulosum
glauconome
glaucum
gleadowi
glomerata
glomerita
Gloriosa
Gloxinia
godferyi
goési
gola 536
Golobopsis
goloides ...
Gomalia...
Gonepteryx
Goodenovieze
Gossypium
goutellei
gracilior
gracilipes
gracilis
grahamianus
Graminaceze
grammurus
granatum
grandiflora
grandiflorum
grandiflorus
grandis .,,
granulatus
Gratiola ...
gratissimum
gratissimun
graveolens
* oreeni... 136, 137, 149, 104,
288,
277, 280,
INDEX.
PAGE
Si ok,
315, 526, 560
. 520
. 893
217
ie 189
ve 105, 106
134, 138, 141
sr ok ee Oy
492, 512, 516
225, 235, 311
pe ee ae
48, 83, 515
522
217
cold
55, 60
oe Ge rag
AEs aaa os
489, 492, 519
_ 122
vee B25
137, 167
bie REET:
ne aad
ee SA
wwe 218
217
POSTS Yh
289, 291, 463
A va B42
38
51
os OO
67, 68, 69
mn 65
ae ee oO
472, 513, 515
282, 467, 479,
poo
214,
480, 517, 518, 525
ve 522
vu. 467, 479
ser 121s 518
e178
488
485, 524
., 289
ve 527
170, 173,
174
EZIEMIUS ooo se
guajava .., vee
guayava ans
Guettarda see
Guilandina
guineense
gularis ,,,
guttata ...
Guttiferze
guttulata
Gynandropsis ..,
heematodes
Halcyon...
Haliastur
halicacabum
Halicore
hamifer ..,
haplonota
hardwickii ace
Harpegnathus ,..
* harrietee ee
hastata .., oar
Hedychium
Hedysarum
heeri ae 5c
Heleotropium,,.
helirius ... ;
Helmia ... five
Helminthomorpha
hemiconus ver
Hemiptera tee.
Hemixus
herbaceum
hercules ane
here tae
Hernandia aX
Herpestis are
Hesperia
Hesperiidee 44.
Heterometrus ..,
Heterophragma
heterosticatica ...
Heterostoma
Hibiscus
*himalayanus ,,.
Himantosoma ,..
hippelaphus ..
Hippopotamidze
Hipposideros .,,
006
vou
1x
PAGE
oes 427
Nae va
uaa t
282, 474
466, 470
a:
ee lOe
426, 527
461, 519
PL IgM gi
a ene BEG
51, 52
(at4py
ve 459
a PAGS
wee Upigh 409
aw Te 160
Re pe he ie
cetey
55, 60
ws 341, 356
we 842
. 525
vs 468
va 2438
p 212
Reh ae
ve 526
ie ASC eieT
pwn) easy
roe ot
i
289, 463
, 136
i. 210
1. 286
288, 483
we 354, 429
345, 351, 425
ve 804
BS ho Bey
136, 145, 173
a). 1945136
462, 512, 515
we 431
ja 188
ve 895, 542
ee. TERETAIO
ve 109
x INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Hipposiderus ... +00 oe. vee 209 | indefessa 86 ae sie 240
Hippotamus ..., 506 wee,,, ve 246 | indica; 29, 38, 63, 81, 187, 194, 195,
Hiptage ... onic 200 wee see: 020 282, 288, 291, 875, 383, 462,
Hirneola Bae 200 a vee 290 466, 471, 478, 475, 481, 484,
hirsuta ... vos et ie soo 474 485, 512, 513, 515, 516, 520, 525
hirsutum we n60 od ... 022 | indicum... i siti 185, 461, 517
hodgsoni... s00 wie -,g) sero f indicus... 02, 60, 109, 137, 181, 311, 312,
hoemorrhous ... a Pees 360, 361, 399, 522
Holarrhena_... eee t00 ve 524 | Indigofera soe oe vo» 281; 466
Holcomyrmex 138, 15, 18, 19, 30, 58, | indus...... a al ee eld
180, 182, 189, 191, 199 | inerme .., te a ... 289, 485
holosericeus... sd BAe .»» 232 | inermipes vas an . 137
holosericus a a ees ... 224 | inermis .., 136, 144, "145, 146, 184, 472
Holostemma ,,. man ee eee 516 | infundibuliformis Le - . 518
Hormurus a mes + 296, 303 | *infuscoides .., 00 . 433
horrida .., BS ae ots ... 515 | *infuscus... 360 4, 299, 230, 249, 433
horsfieldiana ... oe 900 -« 477 | inophyllum...108, 277, 285, 289, 291, 461,
hortensis tse eve 060 ove O24 520
hottentotta a ‘ee cnr ... 803 | inornatus Kee ase vie OG, LET
Hoya... as sr, (est yaa eat) Mea LO! Aaneculpius) suns 137,162, 163.9496
huegelii ... soc aia rage ee O29 | Insecta ... aa iO tee wae d4
#humberti oe: 300 ... -187, 178 | insigne ... ze “ee oe wna, O19
humilis veo oan ons ww. odl2, 461 insularis ipa ont : PE IG
hyalinus... Bee ee Bee .». 283 | integrifolia ... Soe 282, 289, 485
hybleea ... vets i¥d. oe La gceeat ippemee ten |anbermedia; |... 0s ey 0 Ceres anc eaeeamen
Hygrophilla ... tee ees ... 517 | intermissus ... se i Ra LE
hylax ... se one ce .. 828 | interrupta as eee ay Oe
Elymenoptera 1.6 | wa. 1 A 1S, 187) | intricatum’ 3, es
Hypanis 509 aes 590 .». 210 | Invertebrata ... nee 0 ae)
hypargyria as me » 840 | invidus .., Fs 500 an sige ne
Hyperanthera .., AGGY) UNO e Ts! ne teas vow OS EUS
hypogrea 468 | Ipomea ee 282, 290, 479, 480, 517
Hypolimnas 210 | Iridomyrmex .., ae ere ot ae
Hypopus a6 45 | irritans ... ae 227, 230,
Hypsipetes _ 11, 129, 265, 424, 560 | Ismene 208, 21, 218,345, 346, 347, Fe
Hystrix.., an .. 410 | ismene ... , sis v. 209, 429
hystrix... 307 | Tsometrus ie sas 295, 296, 297
Tsoteinon nee “an a wos 427
Tanthocincla 11 | ister fae che ae oA see 836
Tdmais ..,- 216 | itelka .., hat es a ese 346
igniarius 290 | Tulide .., .. 135, 186, 187, 156, 158
ilicifolius 618 | Iulus ... Ge ip 137, 156, 166
ilithyia oo 210 | Ixora ... ... 282, 288, 474, 475, 514
immargmata 139
Tmperata 326 | jacquemontiana in wee ee
imperator 311 | jacquemontii ... se a Sg Ba
imperialis 457 || jeoquini ..°° a. ow) Gea
impetuosa 205 (| jaime, 6.09 88 nee AGIA
impressa 459 | jatepa YA.) \) ce | as) ee. BUBSROIS
inconspicuus 242 | jambolana eee a 188, 291, 472
jambolanum ,,,,
jambos ..,
Jasminum
Jatropha
javana,
jayadeva,.. BE
*jerdani ... ves
jerdoni ...
Jonesia ..;
jucunda ... eas
jucunda-indica ...
jujuba
Junonia”...
Justicia ...
¥*junctus
juvenculus
ove
kadamba
Keempferia
kandyanus
karambola
karsana ... eke
karsandra
*kattensis ae
kelaarti ..,
kingi
kitteli
klugii
knysna
kockii
keenigii ...
Labiate...
laboriosus —
laciniata...
leeviceps ... ese
leevior
leevis
leevissima
Lagerstremia .,.,
lagopodioides
lagopoioides .
lagurus ...
laius
*lamarckii
lamellinoda
lamellinoda-naoroji
lampas ses vee
Lampides
INDEX.
PAGE
. 516
291, 471
513, 522
ve 492
1. 196
. 349
... 136, 137, 152, 161
eee 32,
280, 282,
226,
gee
1. 38, 45, 55
ve 513
1. 195
vie 195
.. 627
210, 213
ww» 484, 518
32, 231, 243
hy TS
. 521
at MMS leis
Pa Ade 16
1. 520
Baer ily
adele
231, 243, 432
136, 149, 174
. 252
vee see, 08
scr ... 209
soe wae 22
ve 304
291, 463, 478
van ABS
... 190
van 476
pi i eeaeialle
Sen eee
aaicase
ae
vce) ia NB
vee 389
... 380
. 142
PRM Rt
236, 434, 521
ah ase
«OB
wee 518
31
lancinosa
langiconda
lankaensis
Lantana ..,
lanuginosum
lanuginosus
largeteaui
larraldei..,
Lasius
latifasciata
latifolia ...
latifolium
latinoda ...
latinode ...
latiscapus
* Jatitans
latro...
latronum
latus ot
Launea ,,,
lavenia-alba
Lawsonia
layardi
*leechii ...
Leguminose
lentiginosus
‘Jeonardi ...
leopardina
Lepisma ..,
Lepismidee
Leptadenia
leptocentrus
Leptochloa
Leptodesmus
Leptosia...
Leptothorax
Lepus
Leucas
leucocera
leucogyne
leucomelas
leucura ..
ligniperdus
lila
Liliacee ...
Limneetus
Limnas ...
Linaria
lineata ..
lineatus
19, 191, 192, 193,
19,
291, 472,
222
328
. 525
522
202
187
177
432
137
. 201
202
477
477
521
136
. 330
vw 280, 283,
192
479
eee gee 19, 30, 31
eee aoe B 372,
135, 136, 147, 149,
see ore
373
173
323
184
110
. 486
489,
208, 209,
469,
429
217
. 290
110
. 244
» 336
490
458
210
482
470
470
Xi
linifolia ...
linifolius...
Lioponera
Lippia
-lisides ...
Lithobiidze
Lithobius
littoralis...
livia ‘
Lobelia ...
Lobopelta
Lomechusa
*longicollis
*longicornis
longifiorus
longifolius
longifrons
longipes ...
longitarsus
Lophomyrmex ...
lophotes ...
Loranthus
lordaca ...
lotis ee
Lotongus
lucida
lucidipes...
Tuctwosus...
Luffa: ..
luffa A
lunatus ...
lunelii ...
lutea Aah
luteipes ...
lutescens
Tuteus 00
Lyczena ...
Lyczenesthes
Lyceenidze
Lycopodiacze
lyra ae
Tysimon. vec
Lysiopetalide ...
Lysiopetalum
Lythraceze
macareus
macrura
maculata
46, 59,60, 187, 171, 174, 175, 176
INDEX.
PAGE
484
eR ABT
BR ts) 54)
484, 485
ye BES
vo 188
acy
i , 389
sient ales eT
Be MATS
13,17, 182730 0,160. 107,
Jeet pipe ey tae
137, 172, 174.
13, 19, 20, 41, 42, 43,
280
.. 519
Ley ie 406, 412
., 20, 41, 43, 138, 139, 184
ood eee 59
... 198
403, 412
80, 519
216, 217
. B42
354, 855, 357
vee 521
308
136, 148
291, 472
Peat ays
LE Peas
. 136
290, 470, 483
Sais, Men
145, 146
231, 470
SU Orton tein ter. Se;
Braeden cyl tus Nk
|. 19, 20,81, 44, 210, 327
ve 544
708
oie ASO OT2
..135, 136, 156, 157
... 156
472, 521
coo see
oo0 vee coe
ace coe woe
see poo
345, 356
5a dl)
.» 136
maculatum wae
maculatus .,.30, 31, 32
PAGE
.. 016
, 136, 227, 229, 237,
239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 297, 299, 300
madablota
mzesa at
meesoides Are
meyius .., ane
Magnolia
major :
malabarica ie
malabaricus
Malvaceze
Mangifera Be
mangifera a:
Manis .. a
Mantidee Bes
Mappia ... Wy
marginata aa
marginatus ee
maritima
marmelos a
marmorata
WTERRO), p99 aa
martensil
*martinil
Martynia
Matapa et
mathias .., ae
Maxima oe
Mayoa ...
WMENAL aoc on
Mecistocephalus
medica .. ae
megacephalus ...-
Magaderma
Megastachya
megastachya ...
Megisba...
melania... ees
Melanitis A060
melanocephalum
melanura
Melia
Meliaceze é
Melica ... fe
melinda ...
melo ee 500
Melonocenchris...
meminna vet
menetho
nt Oe
ice pee
ae
ey
i? Saag
eee y
ca ee
o. 136s Se
hth ee
291, 466, 520
ae 7 MeO
... 402
uae
. 527
ee 0
.. - 430, 481
w 464
291, 464
oh ees
ep ary
., 808
Lagat (Uae
ne DLT
ie met 28515
217, 426, 427
291, 473, 525
Aut gion
, 89, 187, 198, 195
138, 141
ied eS
307, 309, 311
coe eS
ooo ese 3882
sa orate se
vr ana
ere en
209, 429
... 19, 49, 60
252, 261
va .. 520
Pe 210)
369
ve 826
478
‘ . 370
., 899
in 8 SOBRE
Meranoplus
meridionalis
Messor we.
Metaporia
mexicana
micans
Michelia,.,
miles as.
Millingtonia
Millipedes
mimimna
Mimosa ,..
Mimusops
minchini
Minima
minimum
minutifiora
minutum
Mirabilis
miriam .,,
misippus..,
missionis
mistura ...
mitis..,19, 31,
INDEX.
PAGE
202
245
191
356
ive,
226, 237, 238
. 619
216
. 524
133
_ 251
woe 514
ve 522
a, ve 200
- A ee ee
Pk ces yy ei gAaE Neos
ise
_ 50
518
215
210
ay, 487
* 224, 232, 233
32, 229, 230, 231, 237, 241,
242, 243, 432, 433
22, 179,
49, 244,
183,
341,
see tee eee
modesta .., ne ae ve vee 455
modestus ae ee 137, 162, 455
molle .,.. aes ‘ie. oy sh)
Molpastes, 128, 129, 264, 413, 419, 420, 424
momea ... aes 400 was ae OO0
Momordica ine 291, 473
monnieria wee w. §=6.288, 488
monodelpha 4, br ea woe 473
Monomorium 13, 19, 185, 198, 195
montana... noc ae Pts)
Montepeliensis ... ve 068
Morinda... “i A860 282, 475
Moringa “Oe ase 466, 525
MOTINE Ass tee a0 .» 466
Moringeze vee 466
morphina eee vee wee vee O02
Morphinee we wee O20
morsitans 137, 188, 140
mucronata 22, 376, 384
mucronatus .. vee ‘ie . 296
Mucuna... uae 11 O64, 285, 468, 513
muelleri.,. 0 ae Bee woe 290
multidens oa ae Sys Ser SEE,
multiflora sc sae RS see 382
THUNtJAC o00 ves ves vw» 200, 394
xili
PAGE
muricata 291, 460
muricatus des .». 280
Murraya,.. * . 291, 463
Musa... ey . vee eae 025
Mutilla ... fae ots LID
Mygale ... eee ve 87
Myrina ... one . 557
Myriopoda Ne 131
Myrmecocichla.., vee tga vee 202
Myrmecocystus ane 129, 47, 222
Myrmecophila .., 44, 49
Myrmecosystus tee we 20
Myrmicaria_ ,.. Ne eo 183, 203
Myrmicide, 16, 18, 19, 24,46, 177, 178, 220
Myrtaceze ae ‘is . 471
mysorensis oi sand bos vee ae 82
MYXA cae aa ae 524
Nacaduba SC 211
Naia So i. ware
naoroji ... 187, 193
Narmada 555
necho wee O26
negundo.., 456, 518
nejialensis 379
Nelumbium an 513
Neomeris 401
neophron or 5 ne . 557
Nepeta ... ; 485
Nepheronia 3 eee 217
Nephrodium Sep A)
Nephrolepis .., 258, 289
Nereum ; 492, 524
neriifolia .., sss we 492
Nettopus .,, se aC . 553
Neuroptera 200 es cael
Nicandra .., ... 481
nicévillel ... 4. sa es 19, 556
nicobarensis 33, 226, 229, 240
nictitatans 3 . 403
nietneri fad cad seem og
nigra + 19, 20, 181, 201, 202
nigricollis a a sis soa LO
nigrinota ... ie a ... 136
nigrolabiatus 136, 159, 173, 174
nilgiriana eas ive ve . 427
*nirvane .., vee 438
nitida ae eo A
*nividus 225, 234
nivifera + vs , 556
XIV
nodifiora ..,
Nora
Nostoc
NOLICEPS 110. ave
Notocrypta.. ...
ODI ee boc
novee-hollandize
novogranadensis
nucifera ..
nuda
nudiflora
nudium ...
nutans...
nux-yomica
Nyctaginaceze .,
Nyctanthes
Nymphza
Nymphalide ...
Nymphaline ...
oasium ..,
obcordatus
oberthiiri
obesum ... |
oblongus
obscura 6e0
*obscurus see
obtusa ... ses
obtusifolia 00
obtusifolius
obtusospinosus
occidentale
occidentalis fos
OCOLA Peace wes d ices!
ocellifer ... ce
ochracea
ochreipennis ...
Ochrocarpus :
Ochrosia isa
Ocimum non
Ocymum
Odontomachus ...
Odontoponera
odoratissima
odoratissimus
odorum .., se
Cicophylla 500
cenone ae
officinale
officinalis See
INDEX.
PAGE
484,
485
» 556
291
136
429
. 216
wa 242
. 432
272
. 188
474, 512,
OO) 208,
519
138
Bron
. 492
518
526
513
322
. 210
_ 240
202, 342,
227,
469
343
. 185.
238
290
174
231 |
470
470
waste |
, 520
290, 478,
Fen OS
512,
Guan
. 426
471
189
44
216
519
480
485
524
55
officinarum oh
ogina ..,
Oldenlandia ..,
Oleaceze ...
oleander,..
oleracea ies
dlivescens
Oniscomorpha ..,
Oniscus son
@p acai ine sera
opaciventris
Opuntia ..,
Oralign bis
Orecella ... 00
Orellana ..,
orientale... Add
orientalis
orithyia... .
ornata ... 300
Ornithotrope
| Oroxylon 380
| Orphnzeus
_ Otocempsa
Otocompsa
Otostigma
Ovata
Ovis.
pachyrhizus
Padraona 00
Palamnzeus
| pallida
| pallidula
pallidus...
palmarum
palmata...
Pamphila
_ Panchala
Pancratium ...
Pandanus
pandava...
Pandinus
Pangamia eee.
paniculata
Panicum...
panniculata. ... ...
Panninus
Panolia ...
| Pantholops _...
' Papaver.... see
PAGE
74
... 326
sv. 474
“05 Sct vey 522
ce O24
ve, 461
ave toe tryna Ok
135,.138, 143
a 20
oi es
20, 33, 228, 231
... 516
eee tee eee 109
eee see 402
285, 460, 515
137, 187
uw. -176, 361, 385
ooo nee
.
won
109, 110, 354,
ia eee
Meet
vt a RS
we see
138, 142
wes. ae
129, 419, 560
134, 137, 140
ve 485
. 248
46. > ae aelal
853, 357, 427
297, 312
vee 865
ay
ww» 228, 289
427
eco eee see 71
ee 355, 857
sue O02
Oy oy Bop 290
... 282, 291, 468, 475, 525
eco see eee 42
Bok (ah e00 ... 804
ages
386, 456, 475
100, 363, 365, 369.
datiedale RaN0 pee GAVE
vee vee 304
254, 256.
see see 393
ie hoes
papaya we a,
Papilio ....
Papilionide .
Papilioninze
Paradesmus_...-
paradoai,, «=>...
Paradoxurus
Paranticopsis
Parata ...
paria ..., ee
paris
Parnara ... i
parthenope....
parva...
parviflora
parviflorus
Passifloreze
patchouli
paucispinosum ...
Paussus ..,
Pavetta ...
pavetta ...
peetinata
Pedalineze
pellucidum
peltata ... wee
pennicillatum ..,
Pennisetum _.,,
pentandra oe
pentaphylla
perelegans
Peristrophe
peruviana
pes-capree Fes
pes-caproe ..,
petersii... ee
Phalacrocoraz ...
Phaleonopsis
Phanerogamia ...
pharaonis —
Phascolus
INDEX,
PAGE
eee 472,
218, 343, 347,
nf: 213,
135, 136, 149,
516
356
341
343
174
217
. 403
. 345
ve 426
33, 226, 227, 237,
Kayo et
ie OUR
354,
238
345
426
357
195
484
480
y 472
», 525
139
59
475
.. 475
vee 484
. 517
351,
. 294
. 286
356
100
. 478
see
ve 515
19,
.. 484
282, 285,
, 480
517
199
481
. 297
oon
.. 544
122
. 460
186
. 470
phoccenoides
Phragmites Sen
phryxe’ ... ais
Phyllanthus
Physalis ...
Physcia ...
picta Ay wee
picteti
pictus
Pierine ...
Pieris
pilifera “f
pilosa... es
pinnata ... vee
pinnatifida
Pisola ... a
Pisonia ... a
pita 58 Pea
*pitane ...
Pithecops
Plagiolepis ...
tee
Platanista eouxe
plebeia ... se
pleione ...
Pleurostylia
Pleurotus
plinius .., ae
Plumbaginez ...
| Plumbago see
| Plumeria...
plumosa ee
ee
Poa .., 367, 372,
poaeoides eae
Pogostemome ...
Poincettia
Poinciana
' poliopsis ..,
Polydesmide ...
Polydesmus...
XV
PAGE
. 401
. 378
+. 042
6, 291
282, 285, 481
vee see vee 290
vee see 000
137, 173
249, 534, 535
.. 218, 341
wee 848
.. 136
«. 381, 487
315, 520, 526, 560
. 278, 279, 282, 288, 477
i847; aay deth 356
. 276
va . 657
eis ten, ERROR
va. -- 897, 828, 356
20,.41, 43, 223, 245
courts, -) saeny TOROS
vv 426
214, 215, 216
282, 464
ve 290
cen he
sues eho
... 478, 518
vee 624
385, 386
we. Cigntgag
380, 381, 382, 383, 384,
385, 386, 387, 388, 389
.. 887
Jilvn ESS
ce TON eLS
84, 514, 526
vou to leg7aO8
135, 136, 147
135, 136, 153
Pheidole 18, 19, 20, 29, 23, 30, 177, 181,
187, 190, 196, 202, 244
Pheidologeton .., 5 see» 189, 191
philippensis ... Sai we 109, 248
ape wa 186,151, 152, 174, 296,
807, 310
plitsadia: ase 355 oa we 214, 216
Phiomis ... eee ‘ seares “eae £86
Phoceena ... see ose ase “eos 401
Polygala... . 464
Polygaleze . 461
Polygonum 50m pio cso ive 289
polymorpha. 40) Cea see aaa 888
Polyommatus we ow sei: 50, 210
Polypogon ane suerte’ wee . 368
Polyporus - vie vee 290
Polyrachis «.., 17,21, 23, 26, -27, 34, 35, 69
Polyrhachis. .., 7-221
vee tes oes
ate
XVI INDEX,
PAGE |
polystachia ; ... 868 ubescens, 34 ‘ 5 38, 592
polytricha “ se . 290 Sees On a anaes a
Polyxenide an ... 135, 142 | pulchella te ns 363
eee 135, 142 | pulcher ... vse io ven us 211
olyzonidee ae ae ive 137, 178 | pulcherrima .., b6C 514, 519, 526
pomiferum 500 . 471 | pulla " pael 373
Ponera sagt sae 17, 19, 97, o4, 55, 60 | pumila _ be a 467
Poneridee 18, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 51,177, 220 | punctata... a 319, 320
Pongamia ne We .. 48, 515 | punctatus 183
populifolia ah a ... 462 | punctifrons 138, 141
le Nace 500 . 462 | punctiventris ... 52, . 58
populnea 5 Pali 980, 282, 288, 462, 513 | punensis eee tee 52, 194
populneus iva ... 462 | Punica : 472 513, 515
porcinus ... 500 ao ... 250 | purendra 427
roe tiv 249, 584, 535 | Purpurea vee 66, 467, 514
ortulaca... .» 461, 473 | purpuricaulis ... 525
portulacastrum .,, 290, 473 | pusilla - 3
Portulaceze Die ; = 461 | puspa : =
pratensis a i ae . 244, 245 | putli ~ ... uae cs 211, 212
pratti we i ae MNOSO I epYaCUS! aes i a8 267
precatorius a6 a A 492 | Pyctorhis 6
Premna wo: ve vee 289, "3, 128,
Prenanthes ee ven vee mn : ee oe ae
Prenolepis 18, 17, 19, 20,41, 48, 59, 60, 222 | * pygmezeus m - 137, a
pressilabris aay is BS ... 245 | Pyrameis ee He
ee 500 0 nee ... 448 | pyrene ... * a 213
ee snc an PBSHOEP i ese Tere adler. 40 136, 155, 174
prionitis ..0 wavs 285, 488, 518 | Pyrgus .., vee
prismaticus ae i ve 235 | pyriferum . ? a a
Probo ‘d eoe seo tee eee 4 1
: scidea ss ane ek ... 110 | Pythonium.,,, 312, 314, 315, 526, 528, 560
procles to ac ». 000, 857 |
Prosopis : |
500 200 ue > ee 650 | quadrangularis woe) DOO
ee vee va 290, 476, 483 | quadricornis ae we 2 460
ae E is fey ... 216 | quadrilaterus os see > 240, 241
tata Hae lees is ... 09 | quadrilocularis... ah -50
Ps oe eee O40 64, 468, 5138 ; quadrispinosa .., nae ‘19, 190, 196
mophis «. ton ... 406, 412 | quamoclit
psaraides ai a : = see eee eee eee 517
psaroides = 129 265, 5 i |
sod: ; , 560 | rabrolineata ... 600 .
Pselaphognatha it ... 185, 142 | rabula 197 198, a
Pseudolasius. ... 3 Vieira eee Ss ySeeEn) A i mole
Pseudomesa ., Sabine nese 353 | racemosus =e
P a ee eco ee 22
CL 60. F- Te2OL i seradiatus 32,: 224, 295, 931, 288
Pail ‘7 eo... eo0.. ooo ooo 291, 471 radice «oe oe eee coo ’ 205.
QUT 0 000. poo pee 290, 544 reeseli ; 5
Psyllidze... o poo. . poe 380 Ra di i i oe ets si
Pteromys ee Dea... re e a 109 peas a Ss eee
P oe oo coe toe ee eco eon 3
et tee poo oog veo 520 ramasissima, toe j ne
PlerySosperma oo. vee wo 466, 525 | ramosa is . 5,
Ptezomachus a. see Ga 21 es ie - mp
oe eee Cr en Xo 622
‘Randia eco toe
ransonneti
ransonettii -
Rapala ...
rapax ..,
Raptores
rastellata
ravi
recurvispinosus,,,
redtenbacheri
reflexa .,,
regia.
regina
religiosa ..,
repens ..,
restricta ,,.
reticulata
reticulatum
reticulatus,,,
retusa 1.
revolutum
Rhamnez
rhamni ..,
rheedii ..,
Rhinacanthus ... - .., ei
ves 246, 247, 248, 583, 534
Rhinoceros
Rhinophis
Rhinopsis
rhombinoda
Bhopalocera
Rhus _...
Rhysida ...
ribbei ...
Ricinus .,,
ringens ...
risa@ coe
rixosus ..,
robertsia...
rogenhoferi
rosa-sinensis
TOSEA nas
rosus...
rothiana ..,
*rothneyi
rothschana
rotunda ..
rotundifolius
roxburghi
roxburghiana
roxburghii
royleana ..,
224, 233, 312, 431, 432, 433
PAGE
r , 196
ts, oe
1. 340
vl Meg
oc ek 487
teach SERRE
ca Sh eae
oot ee ag
227, 237, 238
: alae
84, 514
v. 516
ui g8S
288, 474
cn lel se Deets
4.280, 283, 476, 479
476, 479
aed, Bigs 0G
vs 528
rented
Ae re i
wei ok EBL
ate
Rt, Sees
set 200
ae oe ae
vs 208, 218
Wc ees 488
134, 138, 139
ibn BD
va -275, 519
0 488
w 556
sic d pean’
an wee 006
23, 27, 197, 199
1.291, 462, 512, 515
wa 519
je one
wee ea oO
Pree ae
vee 195
vs 208, 205
ve 468, 469
eas
eeaaes
ie GT
358, 370
RT
rubi Na
Rubiaceze
rubiginosa
Rubigula
rubra aes
rubripes...
Rucervus
Ruellia ,.,
rufibarbis
ruficaudatus
ruficeps ,,,
ruficollis, ,,
rufipes .,,
rufoglauca
rufoglaucus
rufogularis
rufo-nigra
ruginodis
TUZOSA jay
rugulosa.,,
Rungia ,,,
rupestris ,.,
Rusa as,
Rutan
Rutacez,..
rutilans ,,,
Saccharum
salamomis
salia
Salpornis
salsala .,,
Salticus ...
salvanius,.,
sambac
sanctum ,.,
sandersi ..,
sanguinale
sanguinea
sapientum
Sapindaceze
sapota i.
Sapotacece
Sappago..,
Saracca ...
Sarangesa
sarasinorum
Satarupa
sati 460
sativa
33, 226,
20,
22,
xyli
PAGE
ah van O00
1 474, 521
54, 60
BHO we LO
AY we O13
19, 239, 240
on ar Dod
290, 483
Ay Pan |
apt TaLLG
Ar , 138
wae se 166
me 34, 54
aes eer eok
227, 937, 238
PARI ES vicciere ld)
200, 201, 202
ice he ae
ita. aes CLO
an 45e ae
hs ve 484
ie .. OOl
va 442, 542
tas sus ODE
sae ve. 463
va 494, 496
sia Ve Peace
ae Dp Reeee
ve 556
5, bag
si eae
reine
aa, SR, 460
wwe 518, 522
485, 512, 524
we 435, 438
vee sea 069
v4, 47, 245
v. 525
vee 465
see see O22
to wee O22
ase vee «22
: vw O13
ove ven 427
cu sea Lode
eee we 428
aren eae
vy 064
XWili
sativus .., boc.
Satsuma... ne eo
Satyrinse see. eee
saussurii...
‘BAVItri, ...
saxeus
Saxicola.,.. Fer
*acaber was tee wees
scabriceps
Sceevola ...
scalpratum
scandens....
schilleriana ..,
sehistanus . vee
Scheenefeldia-
scilla ~... 300.
seindieca .., ¢e no
scindicum
SCISSA2 a. 300
Scitaminee. .....
Sciurus.., >
Setaria SOOO =
INDEX.
PAGE |
473, 526
vee B85
209; 322
we 136
Perr iArceo) Ue
v6 216
Bas jan? 2O2h.
300, 310, 311 -
180, 181,
280, 282, 478 -
seat OOD S
282, 477 ;
wea D2) 5
. 541 -
«. 865
317
Hint 189.
tee Fone
. 109;.110
Scolopendra Be ts 134, 137, 140.
Scolopendride... .,. 138, 184, 137, 138
Scorpio... — ss, 296, 297, 303;- 304
Scorpionids : 295, 296, 303
Scrophularinese Peat iat Uc
Sentigera 133, 137
Scutigeridee” vey Ley Lown
scutilus ...- = 560 296
Secunda ,..- es OOT
sedilottii 52, 60
sempervirens ... 520
‘sena 507 .. 425
SBMS Te eae eases neck 3.282
Senna... we 471
sepiaria ... 282, 460
Septochloa sos OU; 346
BEMICOUS in scene) sane ope 2oee ol
Seripolus sa woe 264
Serpula ... one ldo
serratifolia._ vo 485
Serratula .. 476
Sesamum ho Le
Sesban a S00 467
Sesbania,,. - /.277, 280; 282, 467
sesquipedale ; 112,121
sesquipedalis: .. «- +06, 286
Sesuvium : 290, 478
setacea ... « 008
...277, 285; 364, 389
182 ;
——— ag eS at SR TSRLA ID ree SE
shoplandi oc
Sida ay ae
cafsth fat Carry Pelee or
‘sigillata .... see
silenus
silhetense .
Sima...
Simarubere
simillimum
simoni
simplex ... Sf
simpliciusculum
singhapura
singularis
| sinuata ve
, 493 |
ie One
Siphonophora
Sirenia ...
skinneri ...
smaragdina
smithi
smyrnensis
Solanaceze e
solandra.., ie
Solanum cae
Solenopsis | -
solomonis
somniferum
sondaica,...
Sorghum
Sotalia
Spalgis ...
spathifera _
Spathilepia
Spathodia
SPECIOSA ...
speciosum
speculare 600
Spheranthus ...
S pheeropzeus
spicata ...
spicigera
spilonota.
Spilornis...° ...
Spinicaudus
-spinifer ...
PAGE
301, 302, 303
vias. Fave 14G] g ABR
no. sat BES
scene SS
vee 540
«138
ioe ee
«20, 22, 23, 200, 202
a on -3e pt
ere
re |
136, 149, 150.
son, Sag
ee a
wy 84, 294,932.
289, 462, 480
ve ae Bie
& » 402
Pees
13, 19, 26, 39, 60
eoo- eo ace 185
Myo
wis, “te Boreal
Wiss ee
. 481, 518
ae 18, 189,°191
icc laregs eee
Ree en nee 492
«036d. ae
281, 285, 291.
Ree 2 Oe
« 3b
098,
ivewee lees 2 801
524,
989, 474, 513, 517
cig, cen oem
19,187
eee reve 522
ek MB, 14d JAS
ws» 379,380
: Sedat eA
wees, HEMOSBE:
atc eee
ae as SAR OB
"teen QOd
won gs, 17 Dlg Siteeo.
spinigera
spinosa ...° ste vivone 442) -489j 0017
spinosum S63 nod ace, LOSS Lg
Spinalosa’ yo) senna 467
Spirobolus ,,.135, 136, 160, 166, 173, 174
spirostreptinus...
‘Spirostreptus ...
Spizixos... ,
Spizixus... |
splendens __... .
splendida
Spondias a
Sporobolus...
Stachytarpheta,..
steirema,., |...
Stemmiulus
Steno...
stenophylla
stenusa ...
Stercalia
- Sterculia
Steregspermum, 5 ‘
BtIZMA we tee,
Stipa
2 a ees
stolonifera .
stramonifolium ..
striativentris ... .
striatum ve
SUHIATUS 660. os.
stricta.. ... a
strictum ... ree
SHG... ove 5.. ons
Strobilanthes ..,
Strongylosoma ..
Strychnos wes
Suasa
ace oon
Suastus ... “5
_ subearinata A
subcrifolium —§ ...
suberosa ... ng
subgutturosa. ...
subnuda... oe
subnuda-rabuldides
subnudus as
subspinipes...
* BUESBA oe one
sulcata. .., ele
sulcaticeps
sumatrana tee
sumatrensis
superba ;.. ~ oss
_Suriana ,., vee
Sus tea
swammerdami ,,.
eee
INDEX.
PAGE ;
5. ive, oa
185, 136, 158, 173-174
ce van 0
a 188, 1 140, 519
Baio tars vee 196
wae eee pe east
recta vatees 359, ~ 385
ae ve 288, 484
ioe aka Je 828
136, 156, 157, 173
500 tenn 55 4Ok
ie sea p00:
ven 206
: + ., 527
% ODF.
Lh , 524
ee «» 186
“6 ., 308
ses O00
365, 377
., 481
‘ wwe 194
.. 138
: ine ace teeg SBE
ae 373, 438
ree ace . 309
see eae eae ae
vs Ane. 64, 518
135, 136, 149, 173, 174
sat cuca. cameo
= ; 337, “856 -
; 5 wo6, 427
a . 183,208
x see 020
‘ Fr 005 AD
a a vee O94
; ine . 197
. ro. waar LOT:
228,. 239
: ‘a Lee OA
a ve 80%, 306
eh .., 24, 53, 54
aC 50
ice ose Es mney
ocr we 89
“988, 489, 499, 519
vest vee 464.
coe Sse sos 400,
304, 309
a
xix
dn PAGE
swinhoei ie 216
sykesi .., Sy. 000 ‘ .-4, 192
sylvations s,s vee > 80, 240:
Synchloé Lotte te, QA
syrichthus Gane 6 : v1. 428
Sey et es een : ve 516
tabernaculi as ae ven, wee 402
Tabernemontana .., sw. _, 513, 524,
Tacca .» .. . 278, 279, 282; 288:
taceada .., easy ees : vee 478
Tachinine __,.. a 0S i BOD
Tagetes ... 50° : ecay O125,.516
Tagiades Ah we “AC aoe 428
Tajuria ... ae x see 006, 356
Tamarindus ,., me soo 4715. 5255
Tamarix; oss “s oe vee 515
tamilana A06 at . 9344, 345
tamulus la. eae ene BOB
Tanaécia ane ee vee . 556
*tanjoricus... « 136, M47, 173
Tapinoma oe or 19, 49,.. 60
taprobance one 502 is vow 178
taprobanensis ... one ves onny ABT
Taractrocera ... ss. vee arp ora
Tarucus .., AOE een 31, 192, 211
taurus .., “oe oat . 19, 30): 32
* taylori.., ve 31, 53, 229, 241,. 433
taxicolor san. oc we 205, 411
Technomyrmex tc ec 48, 60
Tectona ... , , 1. 518.
Telicota ... ore oat “ vee 427
tenacissima " ’ vee 360
tenacissimus..., see »>2, 360
tenella... is 368, 369, 380.
tenis! fh. ses “ coe Gee B67
tennissimus “Wrst nc sae 290:
| Stag! eee iain cen ee
|Eephrosia . lie. suntan
‘Teracolus .... ~—-208, 213, 214, 218
' Terebellze a " vos ay
Terebrantia ne rae «
| Terias bo 1 2d3
Terinos ... ee
Terminalia 290, 291, “456, 471, 527, 544
Termites .. 15,25, 176, 190
ternatea oom 285, 468, 513
tesserinoda — wae OF,
Tetraceros x . 391, 394
Tetracerus | vue ,, 249, 250;
xx
Tetramorium
Thalamiflore ... noo ba ve 460
Thanaos n00 500 woe «=. 208, 217.
Thecla ... 500 Sad BOG Ci isa oD
theophrastus ... 500) 31, 192, 211
Thespasia boc aie 00s veo O13 |
Thespesia 277, 280, 282, 288, 462
Thompsonia, ... ee tas sea OLO
Thomsonia «- ... 506 odo woo O15
thorellii _ Ae 500 580 Pas
*thraso ... 000 000 vee 402
thrinax ... cot 500 36, 39
Thunbergia ; ie ah veo O17
*thurstoni 137, 167, 170, 173, 174, 297
thwaitesii ay foo Bae Ley)
* thyia.... ae ... . 806, 356
tibetanus re de EOD NOE:
tigrina Aes sie 1. 186
Tiliaceze Ran vee 468
tiliaceus 50 i ... 462
timida 500 00 .. 242
timora “(900 sas 820
tinctoria ... nod 281, 466, 524
tinctorius vee vee 60 »» 526
tinctus 10. 300 500 we 2ol
tinerrima 080 500 600 . ol2
tissa, vet oac eee one 428
tomentosa wie 73, 514, 524
tora wa 00 200 ve 471
torvum ... ek ae ooo 481
Tournefortia 479, 480
toxicaria.., 000 500 woe O19
Trachyiulus aA 135, 136, 158
tragocamelus 50 248, 249, 534
Tragulus... ae soo) Seal, BOY)
Tragus i. ve ue veeuee
Trametes... Re Bats yee . 290
transverse-teniatum ... a oloe
*travancoricus ... es . 318
tremula ... doo ioe Ne Beato?
Trewia .. uke i 500 ooo O19
tricarinatus ... 301, 302, 303
Trichosanthes ae . 1, 487
Triconogaster ... on : veo 196
triflorum.,., h ane 0 +» 468
trifolia ... sis 20 56 . O18
trifoliata,.. a He : soe 463
Triglyphothrie ... 00 . 24
Triglyphothrix ...
trigonus..,
INDEX.
PAGE
44, 180, 185,
244
191
73
'Uniola
Triphasia
Tripogon
tripogonoides
tripunctata
triquetrum
Tristachia
triste «a.
tristriatus
trochilus...
Tropidonotus
truncata
truncicola
tsiela a.
Tsjeth ...
tuberosa veo
tullia a
tumida ...
turgida ...
Tylophora
Typhlatta
Typhlopone
tytia 000
* tytioides
Udaspes ...
‘uliginosa,..
‘umbellata
‘Unginea..,
‘unicolor ...
unicornis
000
unioloides
Urena ..,
urens
*uroceros
Ursus...
utilissimus
vagans ..,
vahliana ..,
Vandee ...
Vanessidee
Varians ...
variegata
variegatus
varius ..,
vastator ...
velox
ventralis...
vera 360
PAGE
vas 468 -
wie 370”
na BTL
spits BT
wet eee anaes
van 365
138, 139
ve 109
211, 212
Ok ooo 407
435, 436, 438
a ae
76, 123
je BIB
ve 461
vos 326
we 136
290, 468, 469
40.277, 280, 283, 479
176
175, 176
wav 559
, 555
1. 428
522
487
498
395
533
1 088
Re BES
289, 462.
.. 527
; 174
hn. eo ee
. 473
223, 232,
512,
oye oe O26
Verbena...
Verbenacez -
Verbesina
Vernonia
verrucosa
verrucosum
versicolor
verticillata ©
verticillatus
vesicatoria
vestalis s.
vi aoe
viaticus ...
Viond* ...
vignel ...
Valter si.
Vinca ©...
vindhiana
virescens
viridens ..,
viridiflora
virosa ..,
viscosa ...
viscosum
WAtEX © cice
vitifolia ..,
Vitis
VOZESE ave
vulgare ..,
vulgaris ..,
Vulpes ...
Wallastonia
wallichianum
walshi
watsoni ...
312, 526,
INDEX.
PAGE
484,
477
524
484
476
466
290
145
381
376
» 472
216
215
47
470
. 248
561
. 519
.. 427
ve 418
+. 309
. 468
516
515
. 476
518
. 517
528,
22, 24,
465
. 169
291
357
494
ATT
560
179
. 196
weberi ..,
Wedelia ,..
wightii ..,
woodfordi
Woodfordia
wood-masoni
Wrightea
wroughtoni
*wroughtonii
Xanthixos
Xanthixus
Xiphia
Yasoda ...
yerburii ...
yerburyi..,
Ypthima..,
Zanthixus
zebraica ...
Zedoaria
ZENA —s ane
ZENDALA oes
Zephronia
Zephroniidze
zeylanica
zeylanicum
zeylanicus
Zingiberaceze
Zitenius o.
Zizira sss
Zizyphus
Zoobotryon
Zyziphus
XX1
PAGE
vas vee 296
282, 477
coe : 282, 464
aes a5 .. 809
anc ... 526
ve 195
. O24
eee eed
, 20, 23, 48, 59, 176, 187,
199
431
188, 192, 193,
isk eh Sea
rude
Ry,
eee eee 823
we OOF
216
433
+. -209
ud > ted
sk OE cae
136, 143,
135,
478,
(é h acezes \rodk
jv3 Howel/
ERRATA, a
Vor. VEL, No.'3.
p- 391, 9th line, last word, for “ Kalahint”’ read “ Kalvhint.”
p. 397, 3rd line, for “are” read “ viz.”
p. 399, 13th line, for “ Barking”’ read “ Hog.”
,
Same page, for “ Prejevalisky ”’ read ‘“* Prejevaljsky.”’
ea
si
%.
NOTICE.
This Volume should not be bound until the following
illustrations have been received. They will appear in a
subsequent number :—
fem LOG. .,.5..00:..-.--- 1 plate,’ to face page 317.
Beteweonake \..........:..... 1 plate, to face page 318.
Indo-Malayan Butterflies... 3 plates, to face page 322.
A complete Index for this Volume is also in course of
reparation and will be published shortly.
EDITOR,
Bombay Natural History Society.
LIST OF OFFICE~BEARERS.
President.
H. E. the Right Honorable Lorp Harris.
Vice- Presidents.
Dr. D. MacDonald, u.p., B.s.¢. O.M.
The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwand: M.A., LL.M, (Cantab.),
Dr. G. A. Maconachie, m.p., c.m.
How. Sanita
Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.m.z.s.
Hon. Treasurer.
Mr. E. M. Slater.
Editor.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.m.z.s.
Managing Committees.
The Hon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood. Mr. W. F. Sinclair, o.s
Dr. G. A. Maconachie. Mr. M. C, Turner.
Dr. D. MacDonald. Col. W. 8. Bisset, R.E.
Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s. Lieut. H. E, Barnes.
Rev. F. Dreckmann, s.3. | Mr. J. ©. Anderson.
rb. 5. Weir, Mr. E. L. Barton.
Dr. Kirtikar. Mr. Reginald Gilbert.
Mr. J. D. Inverarity. Mr. R. M. Branson.
Mr. W. 8. Millard. Mr. N. S. Symons.
Mr. KH. M. Sate ex-officio.
Mr. H. M. Phipson, | ewsofficto.
Ist Section.— (Mammals and Birds. )
President —Mr. J. D. Inverarity.
Secretary—Lieut. H. H. Barnes.
2nd Section.—(Reptiles and Fishes.)
President— Mr. G. W. Vidal, c.s.
Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, c.M.z.s.
3rd Section.—(Insects. )
President—Mr. L. de Nicéville, F.£.8., C.m.z.8.
Secretary—Mr. H. H, Aitken.
Ath Section.— (Other Invertebrata.)
President—Dr. G. A. Maconachie, m.D., c.M.
Seeretary—Mr. J. C. Anderscn.
5th Section.—( Botany.)
President—The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, m.a., LL.M. (Cantab.)
Secretary —Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, r.s.m. (France), M.r.c.s.
4
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Price, Rs, 6-8 each.
Apply to the
HoNORARY SECRETARY,
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Bombay.
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